


The House On Morningside Drive

by skipperr98



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternative Universe - Boarding House, Dysfunctional Family, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Gen, Multi, boarding house
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:13:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24756094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skipperr98/pseuds/skipperr98
Summary: Emil is a freelance landscape photographer. When he finally gets enough money to stay somewhere nicer and longer, he stumbles upon a typical boarding house with some...atypical characters ran by Italian twins. Since he only has money for one month's stay, Emil figures it would be best if he didn't intervene with the already well flowing house...But still, he will learn that people change people, and these atypical people will change him.
Relationships: Austria/Hungary (Hetalia), Belarus/Prussia (Hetalia), Iceland/Liechtenstein (Hetalia), Lithuania/Poland (Hetalia)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey hey hey it's summertime and BLACK LIVES MATTER I, as a black author need you and others that read my stories informed of what is happening in the world as this is being posted. In the time of protest and the time of a pandemic, I ask that you all stay safe and vigilant. I want you all to know that as a supporter of #BLM I give free rein of anyone that no longer wants to support my fanfiction because of this matter. I also commend those that stand with us in this long, tiring battle of change and Reformation in the US. Remember, ALL LIVES WILL NOT MATTER UNTIL BLACK LIVES MATTER. IF MY HOUSE IS ON FIRE AND I CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT IT DOES NOT MEAN YOUR HOUSE IS NOT IMPORTANT AT THE TIME IT JUST MEANS IT'S NOT ON FIRE! IF MY BURNING HOUSE CONTINUES TO BURN IT WILL SPREAD TO YOUR HOME AND OTHERS AND WE WILL ALL BE LEFT WITH NOTHING. CARE FOR ALL HUMANS! IT TAKES MORE THAN BEING ANTI-RACIST! YOUR SILENCE IS CONSENT OF OPPRESSION. EDUCATE YOURSELF AND UNDERSTAND WHAT BLACK PEOPLE ARE ASKING OF THE GOVERNMENT.
> 
> With that being said. Here is a multi-character fic staring my new fave best friends: Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Wy ^_^ It shouldn't be too long, half of it is already written so I'll be flushing out chapters weekly. I hope you all like this as a relaxing read from protesting and politics before you jump right back in and get back to protesting and signing petitions :) Happy reading everyone!
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I don't own Hetalia, or anything mentioned in this work. Thank you.

How the hell did he end up in this Godforsaken town, in this Godforsaken house, signing a lease for a Godforsaken room?

He didn't know.

But what he did know was that he finally had enough money to put down on a room where he could actually stay. Was it his first choice? Fuck no. But was it somewhere he could stay for a full month instead of jumping around dingy motels week to week? Most definitely.

The Italian man looked up at the other, sitting across from him in his office. "Emil is it?" He asked and smiled at him. "You're in luck, not only did you catch us in the quietest time of the day, but we've got a room available just for you. Are you sure you want to stay for just the month?"

The other man, Emil, nodded. "A month is all I'll need, thank you." It's not like he'll have money for next month's rent to give anyways.

The Italian man nodded. "Well, welcome to our home, we hope you enjoy your stay." He opened a drawer next to him and pulled out a key. "You'll be staying on the 3rd floor. 301. First door on the left. We have breakfast at 8 am, dinner is at 6 pm, family time is at 8 pm, and quiet hours start at 10 pm. The doors are locked, and the alarm is set at midnight. So we ask that you're here before then. Unless there is an exception of late-night work, then you'll have a house key on those days to get in. On the weekends, we have breakfast at 9 am, house cleaning starts at 12, and we also go on group grocery trips afterward. Have your sheets stripped off your bed Saturday morning for fresh sheets. Dinner is still at 6 pm on the weekends. Quiet hours start at midnight, and the doors are locked at 3 am on the weekends. The front door will be locked at its regular time, but the back door will be free to use on the weekends. We don't have many rules, as so far all we've had has been adults that come to live with us. We just ask that you respect the other tenants and their spaces. If you smoke; please don't smoke in the house, smoking is for the back porch. Keep your bathroom items in a caddy to keep from having so many items in the bathroom, you're free to occupy any common area, and the attic is forbidden."

"Why is the attic forbidden?"

"It's best to keep it that way. Going into the attic will result in termination of your room contract, very serious stuff."

Emil winced. "Yeah, pretty serious."

The Italian man gave Emil his key. "That's all I have for you, Mr. Emil. Would you like a tour of the house or would you rather just explore on your own?"

Emil took his key and stood. "Um, I'll just do some exploring on my own, thanks."

"Okay, that's perfectly fine. If you need anything, my name is Feliciano. I'll be here in the office doing boring paperwork."

"Alright, I'll be...around I guess." He said and gathered his bags and suitcases before shuffling his way out of the office.

The first thing Emil did was drag all of his items up to two flights of stairs, gasping for air as soon as he reached his room. Room 301. "At least this stuff won't be coming back down until a month from now." He spoke tiredly. Emil used his key to unlock the door and pushed the door open.

It was a pretty big room, came with a desk, a single bed, a wardrobe, and a window that didn't show much, but at least it let some natural light in. The room even came with a mini-fridge, how convenient.

Emil went to work unpacking his things. He didn't have much of course, so unpacking was light work. He put his clothes in the wardrobe, set up his laptop at the desk, and placed his camera next to it. He'd bother with his other camera equipment when he had to actually use it.

Emil sat down on the bed before falling back on it, looking at the ceiling. "What the hell did I get myself into?" He asked himself quietly.

There was a knock at the door, and Emil sat up. Another knock at the door. Emil quickly got up and went to the door, pulling it open. The other side of the door revealed a young girl, with brown hair, and brown eyes lighter than her hair. "Um, hey. I just heard a lot of moving and shuffling going on in here, and I was a little confused. I didn't know we'd be getting a new tenant today." She held her hand out. "I'm Sophia, Sophia James."

She had a strong accent, a strong Australian accent at that. Emil held his hand out, shaking her hand. "Emil Steilsson, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too Emil." She said, giving him a small smile. He was really cute, thank God it wasn't some creepy old guy moving up here with them. "How long are you gonna be here?"

"Just for the month."

"Just for a month? Sheesh, I wish I was only staying here for a month."

"How long have you been here?"

"Six months, but it's not bad at all honestly. The people that live here make it worth living here honestly."

"Well that sounds nice and all, but one month is all I really need before I head out again."

"Where are you going next?"

"Not sure yet, I've got a month to figure it out though." He said with a shrug. "But in the meantime, I guess I'll just keep to myself and try to stay out of everyone's way. That's usually how life goes for me anyway."

Sophia shook her head. "Yeah, okay, we'll see how long that lasts." She muttered. "Anyways, just a thing about living on the third floor, you have to jiggle the handle to get the toilet to stop running, and the door at the end of the hall is the attic, don't touch it, don't look at it, don't even breathe in its general direction."

"Okay, what is it so mysterious about the attic? It's just a damn attic."

"A damn attic that's off-limits, got it? Especially for you, Mr. One-Month."

Emil rolled his eyes. "Sure, whatever, the attic is off-limits."

The girl nodded at him. "Good, glad you understand."

"Anything else I need to know? Anything of importance?"

"There's another person that lives up here, right across from you in 302 actually. Her name is Lili, she's at work right now, but you'll love her. I think it'll be kind of nice up here now, having all the rooms filled with people your age. Well at least I think you're around my age, you look like a young twenty-something."

"Twenty-four."

"Ah, yep. I'm twenty-three, and Lili is twenty-two, and if you like going out, you're happy to join our nightlife crew. I mean we rarely go out, but when we do, phew, cray-zy."

Emil nodded slowly. "Interesting. Well, just let me know when you guys go out, maybe I could come with sometimes."

"Cool, well I should get back to my room, I've got a couple of commissions I need to finish up and get sent out. Nice talking to you though, hope you enjoy your one-month stay. See you at dinner." With that, Sophia turned on her heel and headed back to her room.

"See you at dinner," Emil called before closing the door behind him.

* * *

In the time between last seeing Sophia and dinner, Emil busied himself with looking up some of the points of interest around town. It was a small town, but there seemed to be some interesting places. He didn't think he'd be getting any shots of the town itself, too bland, but maybe he could go out to the city and see what they had. He'd also have to call around to see which magazines were accepting submissions and email local blogs that wanted to collaborate.

Emil looked at his watch, almost six o'clock. Alright, a moment of truth. Time to go see who all lives in this house. Hopefully, no one too creepy, too old, too young, or too annoying was living here. He left his room and went down the stairs, following the scent of food. Something smelled delicious. He found himself walking into the dining room, where he found a decent amount of people at the table. A guy whose hair was so light it looked white, a girl that was devastatingly beautiful but looked scary to talk to, a pair of twins with weird strands of hair sticking out their heads, an Asian guy, and Sophia. At least that it was one person that was familiar. Emil went over to Sophia and sat next to her.

The man with the white hair looked over at the beautiful girl sitting across from him. "Hey Nat, you know who that guy is down there?"

Natalya looked down the table, making eye contact with Emil. "Either a new tenant or an idiot." She spoke in a thick accent.

"Oh don't be so harsh Natalya, not everyone is as vocal as yours truly." The twin with the shorter strand said.

"Maybe he's waiting for everyone else to come to the table." The other twin spoke in a much quieter voice.

"Or maybe he's just an idiot."

Emil winced. "Is there something I did?" He whispered over at Sophia.

"You didn't say 'hi' to anyone. Speak to the other tenants." She told him.

"Oh right, sorry. I'm Emil, I just moved in today."

"Well, you weren't here yesterday."

Before he could say something else, another tenant came into the dining room. He pulled his blonde hair back, showing off his full face of makeup. He pouted some. "Ugh, if I knew we weren't eating yet I would have totally like wiped my makeup off first." He said with a roll of his eyes before sitting at the table. "Do you like it Nat? I just did a unicorn-inspired makeup tutorial." He said looking from side to side, to show Natalya batting his lashes.

Natalia studied his purple and blue eyeshadow, and pink highlight, and periwinkle colored lipstick. "It's….very bright Feliks, but screams unicorn."

Feliks grinned. "Totally what I was going for."

"Alright, I hope everyone is hungry." A woman with her long brown hair pulled back, carrying in a dish of chicken primavera pasta, and placing it down in the middle of the table. Feliciano came right behind her carrying a plate of breadsticks, and a bowl of garden salad, placing those on the table as well. Lastly, coming behind Feliciano was another man with dark hair and glasses, carrying two condensating jugs in his hands. Once the three of them sat down, plates, and drinks, and food swapped amongst the other tenants was underway, and Emil could barely keep up. While everyone had full plates of food, Emil was still struggling to get something to drink.

Sophia managed to get the pasta, breadsticks, and drink jugs down to their end of the table for Emil. "Don't worry, you'll be able to keep up soon." She told him.

Emil looked over at her. "Thanks." He said before making his plate.

"So if you all haven't noticed, we have a new tenant in the house," Feliciano said. "So Emil, if you could please introduce yourself to the house?"

Emil looked over his glass of lemonade to find everyone looking at him, waiting for him to speak. How weird. He put his glass down and cleaned his throat. "Um, I'm Emil. I live on the third floor."

The woman with brown hair smiled. "Emil. What a cute name. What do you do for a living Emil?"

"I'm a freelance, landscape photographer."

Natalya raised an eyebrow. "A photographer? What are you doing here then?"

"I think that would be the 'freelance' part of his job." The Asian guy replied.

"So do I get to know who all of you are?" Emil asked slowly.

"He asked like we're a cult or something," Feliks commented.

"He's going to think we are if you guys won't stop being so weird." Sophia murmured as she poked at her pasta.

"Well as they always say, it's best to know who the hero is first, and that'll be me. I'm Alfred, and this is my twin brother, Mattie, though he likes to go by Matthew."

Matthew looked over at his brother. "I could have done my introduction myself, you know Al." He said with a small smile.

"I know you can, but didn't it just sound so much better with me introducing the both of us?"

That made Matthew roll his eyes. "Sure it was Alfred." He said with a sigh.

"They're our youngest tenants, still in high school." Feliciano chimed in.

Feliks smiled and waved at Emil. "I'm Feliks, hairdresser, makeup artist, and YouTuber. Make sure you subscribe _FeliksSlays_ , and follow all my other social media; also _FeliksSlays_."

Emil blinked. "Um, okay?"

Feliks narrowed his eyes. "Don't like, say 'okay' if you're not going to do it. I'm turning on my notifications for you, and I better see all of your social media pop up on my phone, telling me that you followed me on everything and subscribed to my YouTube channel, got it?"

"Alright, alright, I got it."

"I'm Gilbert, and I'm the most awesome person you'll ever meet."

The man with dark hair scoffed. "More like the worse person you'll ever meet."

"Well, no one asked you, Roderich, now did they?"

Natalya rolled her eyes. "I'm Natalya, I dance."

"You dance?" Emil questioned.

"Did I stutter?" Natalya questioned back.

The Asian man cleared his throat. "I am Kiku; I live stream playing video games for a living."

"And I'm Elizabeta, and this is my husband, Roderich. He plays in a jazz band in the cafe I'm a barista at."

Emil nodded. "And that's everyone? Where's—" Emil stopped himself when he heard the front door open and close.

A young woman came into the room dining room, smiling at everyone. "Hi everyone, I hope I'm not too late to dinner."

Feliciano smiled at her. "You're just in time Lili."

The young woman, Lili nodded and went over to the empty seat next to Emil. "Is this seat taken?" She asked politely.

The earth had seemed to stop Emil. Who knew the girl living across the hall from him would be a living, breathing angel? Her sweet smile and soft green eyes stole his heart. How would she look photographed? He's never shot a person, let alone an angel, but God did he want to know.

Lili blinked. "Excuse me?" She asked curiously.

Emil blinked as well and quickly shook his head. "No, it's not taken, you're free to sit here." He asked quickly.

She smiled at him and took her jacket off and put her purse on the back of her chair. "Thank you." She said and reached for her purse to pull out a small hand sanitizer. "So you must be new, I'm Lili, and you are?"

'In love.' Emil thought to himself. "Emil." He tried to answer back at a reasonable time.

She smiled at him. "Emil. What a lovely name. Welcome to the house on Morningside Drive."

* * *

Dinner had been a lot easier with Lili there, and what's crazy is that she didn't even know she made dinner easier for Emil, but she did.

After dinner was family time, which wasn't as awkward as Emil thought it would be either. It was movie night, and they all sat in the parlor around the television watching some cheesy comedy he couldn't remember the name of. After the movie, Emil went up to his room to get ready for bedtime. He changed into his pajamas and grabbed his toothbrush, heading over to the bathroom, stopping when he heard voices on the other side of the door.

" _So, he's only staying here for a month?" He heard Lili say._

" _That's what he told me. But he's around our age and seems kind of cool. He doesn't have a lot of manners for people living with him, though. He didn't even speak to everyone until I told him to."_

" _Well, maybe he's just used to being by himself? He'll get used to the house and everyone in it, I'm sure. In the meantime, why don't we just be friendly to him first, so it'll be easier for him to warm up to everyone else?"_

" _That doesn't sound like a bad idea. He did say that he'd want to come with us whenever we went out."_

" _That's a start. Come on, let's get out of here, we have a bathroom to share now."_

With that, Sophia opened the door, jumping when she saw Emil on the other side. "Shit, you're not this quiet all the time, are you?" She asked.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you, just came to brush my teeth." He said, waving around his toothbrush and toothpaste.

"Sorry if we were taking too long," Lili spoke, looking up at him. "Um, we know you're new here, and I just wanted to let you know that we're friendly people, and would love to hang out with you anytime you'd like."

She was so sweet. Emil gave a small smile. "Thank you for the offer, Lili. I'll be sure to take you upon it. Have a good night."

"See you at breakfast, Emil." Sophia said, walking in her room.

"Tomorrow's house cleaning, so prepare to have the house spotless."

"I'll wear my cleaning clothes."

Lili laughed at that. "Good night Emil." She said, going to her room.

"Good night Lili." He said as he watched her slip into her room and close the door.

Emil hung his head in shame. "'I'll bring my cleaning clothes.' Seriously?" He asked himself before going into the bathroom and locking it.

A moment later, the attic door lock made a soft click, and the door squeaked open. A shadowy figure slipped out, closing the attic door behind them and slinked down the stairs.

Emil came from the bathroom and went to his room, locking the door behind him and heading to bed for the night.

The shadowy figure came back up the stairs with a plate of tonight's dinner, and back through the attic door, locking the door again behind them.

|  | 

|   
---


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, good to get some comments/reviews on this story. No reviews on FF.Net but I'm still posting out of preference/preference for others. But those who are reading on AO3, thank you! I truly appreciate it! Longer chapter here, happy reading!

The next morning Emil woke up sleepily and sat up. He stretched and rubbed his eyes, looking around his room. "Breakfast." He muttered to himself and climbed out of bed to start his shuffle down the stairs.

He paused and turned back to his bed. "Sheets first." He muttered to himself and pulled off his sheets, folding the comforter up and putting it at the end of the naked bed. He put his sheets in the laundry basket that sat next to the door. There, that took care of that.

Emil opened the door, and at the same time, Lili opened hers. He looked up at her, observing the long t-shirt she had on with a pair of fluffy socks. "Good morning." He said to her quietly.

She gave a warm smile to him. "Good morning, how did you sleep?"

"Better than expected."

"That's good." She said and went over to Sophia's door, knocking a couple of times. "I know my first few nights here I had a hard time sleeping."

Sophia pulled the door open and came out of her room. "Breakfast?"

.

.

.

Downstairs, people were gathering for breakfast.

"Good morning." Sophia and Lili greeted simultaneously.

"Good morning everyone," Emil said afterward quietly and sat down at the table. He looked over at Feliciano sitting back in his chair with his arms crossed. "Good morning Feliciano." Emil greeted.

Feliciano looked over at him, a look of annoyance on his face. "I am _not_ Feliciano. Since you're new I'll let you slide this time, but just so we're clear, I'm Lovino, Feli's twin brother."

"Oh sorry. I didn't know he had a twin. So we have two sets of twins in the house?"

"Yep, but Lovino is rarely around, he works a lot," Lili explained.

"Where do you work?"

"A restaurant in the city," Lovino replied.

Emil nodded at the answer and saw Elizabeta, Feliciano, and Roderich came out with breakfast. Pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon along with coffee and tea. Once again, as soon as they sat down, the exchange began. Emil hadn't done much better from last night, but at least he managed to get a cup of coffee, and a couple of pancakes. Lili passed him the bacon and eggs and Sophia slid him some sugar and creamer for his coffee.

Emil added the sugar and creamer to his coffee. "So do you guys always cook for the house?"

Elizabeta nodded. "Pretty much. Everyone else cleans up afterward, depending on the day. Gil, Nat, and Kiku take care of Tuesday and Wednesday, the twins and Feliks take care of Thursday and Friday, and the Saturday and Sunday were just for Sophia and Lili but now you'll be helping them with the meal cleanup now."

"So who cleans up on Mondays?"

"I usually take care of Monday's. Everyone's busiest day." Feliciano spoke.

It was crazy how everything worked like clockwork in this house. Was anything ever out of place? It was so organized. Scheduled breakfast, dinner, activity time, cleaning time, and even grocery shopping. Honestly, Emil felt like he was in a summer camp with Feliciano, Elizabeta, and Roderich as the camp counselors.

"How did you sleep last night Emil?" Matthew asked.

"I slept well, thank you for asking."

"Good night's sleep, huh? Must have been easy for you to sleep through the things that go bump in the night." Gilbert said with a snicker, only to have Natalya jab him with her fork. "Ow! Take a joke sometimes." He muttered rubbing his leg.

"Not a lot of bumping in the night, I guess. Or at least I didn't hear anything weird. Was I supposed to?"

"No." Everyone said at the same time.

"There's nothing to worry about. Gilbert just likes to try and scare our new tenants with talk of spooky stuff, and late-night activity." Feliciano said.

Emil nodded slowly. He felt like everyone was acting weird, but maybe it's best to brush it off when they act like this. For some reason, he felt like he'd be doing _a lot_ of brushing off with them.

.

.

.

Lovino walked into the parlor with a clipboard in hand. "Alright everyone shut up, I've got the cleaning lineup. Kiku and Gilbert, mop duty. Alfred and Matthew, dusting duty. Elizabeta and Sophia, bathrooms, Emil and Lili, bed linen, and Natalya and Feliks, clean out the old food in the fridge. Roderich you're helping Feli with the garden today. As usual if you finish up early, find something other people need help on. Cleaning hour begins now." With that Lovino tossed the clipboard behind him, making Feliciano yelp and catch it to keep it from hitting him.

Emil watched as everyone shuffled around to get their cleaning duties started, and Lili stood heading over to him. "Looks like we're making beds today." She said, smiling some at him.

Emil's eyes widened. "Wait, we have to make everyone else's bed?" He asked.

"Well someone else is cleaning your bathroom for you, and moping your hallway, why not put fresh sheets on someone's bed for them?" She explained before standing and turning back to him. "Come on, we have to go get the fresh sheets."

Emil stood and followed her, leading him to a two-door closet. "This is the linen closet. It has fresh sheets for everyone in the house, and this basket is where all the old sheets go for a cleaning."

"Do we have to clean the sheets too?"

"No, Feli just takes them to the laundromat in town while we're shopping and they wash them for us." She pulled down a stack of pastel green fitted sheets, and a stack of pastel yellow top sheets. "You can pick whatever colors you want to go on everyone's bed, I try to pick colors that go well together." Then she grabbed a single fitted and top sheet from the second shelf. "Roderich and Lizzie are the only ones with a double bed, so their sheets are on the second shelf. You can carry the fitted sheets, I'll carry the top sheets, and we can just pull the basket along together."

Emil took the fitted sheets from Lili. "So we just go up to each floor and take their old sheets and make their beds with the new sheets?"

"Bingo." She said smiling at him.

"Alright, sounds easy enough."

* * *

Emil tossed Alfred and Matthew's sheets into the basket while Lili was finishing up making the other bed.

Lili smoothed out the sheets and nodded in approval. "We make a pretty good team. Already on the third floor." She said.

Emil nodded as well. "Yeah, didn't think it would be this fast honestly." He said and pulled the basket out of their room.

Lili handed him his now thin stack of fitted sheets and smiled. "Well, to the third floor we go."

.

.

.

Lili pushed her door open, revealing her room.

Emil looked around her room. She had little plants sitting in the window sill and a stack of books on the desk next to a laptop. String lights ran around the room, and a couple of bean bag chairs sat in the corner. Even her room was cute. Jesus everything about this girl was just so damn _cute_. "Your room is really nice."

"Thank you, I figured I'd be staying here a while, so I tried to make it as cozy as possible."

"How long have you been here so far?"

Lili grabbed her old sheets, putting them in the basket. "Three months so far. It's probably going to be a few more months before I actually decide to move out."

Emil pulled off a fitted sheet from his stack of sheets and spread it across the bed. "But don't you want to be on your own?"

Lili tucked the ends of the sheet under the mattress. "I am on my own. It's a lot better than the living situation I was in before. Trust me."

Emil tucked his ends as well. "I mean sure you're on your own, but you're not _actually_ on your own. When you're on your own, no one can tell you what to do, you can have breakfast whenever you want, dinner whenever you want, come and go as you please, and no dumb after-dinner activities."

"Well that sounds nice and all, but some people attach to things a lot easier than others. It doesn't mean they don't wish to just set up a map and go to wherever the dart lands, but they just know that it's going to take more than a month to do some figuring out of what happens next in their life. And who knows? Maybe where they are at that moment, can teach them a thing or two along the way." She said and shrugged. "But, what do I know? I just work in a nursing home." She said and started to spread the top sheet.

Emil helped spread out the top sheet tucking in the sheet at the foot of the bed. "No, I hear what you're saying. You're not the only one that thinks it's weird that I'm only staying here a month, but I just don't see myself here. I need to be out taking pictures in the lush countryside of France, not making other people's bed for them on Morningside Drive."

Lili smiled some at him. "Maybe so, but people change people Emil. Always remember that." With that, she grabbed the comforter from her desk chair and spread it across the bed.

Emil pulled at the comforter, spreading it out evenly across the bed. "Looks good."

"Almost." She said as grabbed her pillow and put it back on the bed, along with a pink throw pillow she invested in herself, and a stuffed puffin toy in the middle of her pillows. "Now it's good. Perfect even."

Emil smiled. "You like puffins? My favorite animal."

"Yeah, puffins and penguins are both pretty up there for my favorite animal. I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was younger."

"Really? What happened?"

"Life happened." She spoke with a shrug and started her way out the door. "Two rooms left." She said and looked at their stacks of sheets before frowning. "I miscounted, we're short a set."

"No worries, I'll run back downstairs and grab a set." Emil offered and left his stack of sheets with Lili before heading downstairs.

When Emil was gone, Lili gave a coded knock on the attic door, and the lock clicked, and the door squeaked open. "I got some sheets for you, old sheets please."

A hand came out the door, handing Lili their old sheets, she took them and gave them their new sheets. Once they got the new sheets, the door closed and locked again.

Emil came back up a few minutes later, with an extra set of sheets. "Alright, here we are. One top sheet and one fitted sheet."

Lili looked at the sheets and gave a half-smile. "Emil, this is a green top sheet and yellow fitted sheet, it's the other way around."

"Shit, I'll be right back."

Lili giggled as she watched him leave.

* * *

"Great cleaning as usual everyone. Who's coming to the grocery store?" Feliciano asked waving around the keys.

"Shotgun!" Feliks asked dashing to the door.

Natalya scoffed. "Does he even need anything from the store anymore?" She asked heading out as well.

Gilbert, Kiku, Alfred, and Matthew followed suit out the door.

"Are you coming, Sophie?"

Sophia shook her head. "Nope, not this week."

"Okay well, I'll tell you how our grocery store soap opera goes." She said with a giggle and looked over at Emil. "Are you coming?"

"Definitely, I'm going to get some stuff to put in my mini-fridge." Emil said following her. They went out to the front where a large van had been parked outside and everyone was climbing in.

"This is the family van, so everyone can go to places together at one time," Lili said climbing in.

Emil climbed in behind her and Kiku after him. Behind them, Matthew was reading a book and Alfred was bobbing his head to whatever his headphones were playing. In front of them, Natalya and Gilbert had been doing some small chatting, though it was mostly Gilbert talking, Feliks was taking selfies, and Kiku was playing with a Nintendo DS. "Do you ever stop playing video games?" He asked him.

Kiku looked up at him. "Not really." He said and his head went back down to his game.

Feliciano climbed into the driver's seat. "Alrighty, laundromat and grocery store." He said turning over the engine and heading into town.

* * *

The town, though big, didn't have too much to offer in itself. Movie theater, grocery stores, bookstores, clothing shops, laundromats, cafes, and other miscellaneous shops.

Once Feliciano dropped off the sheets at the laundromat he drove across the street to the grocery store and parked. Everyone hopped out of the van and headed into the store. Feliks had been ahead of everyone and walked into the store first. He looked over at the customer service desk, making a beeline for a man with brown hair. "Hi Toris." He said grinning from ear to ear at the man.

Toris looked up at Feliks, smiling at him. "Hey Feliks. Has it been a week already?"

"Mmhmm," Feliks said nodding. "It's just our usual Saturday grocery shopping trip. How's your shift been so far?"

Emil watched as Feliks and Toris talked. Feliks had a hand under his chin and a small twinkle in his eye when he was listening to Toris. Feliks must have really had the hots for this guy.

"The only reason he ever comes grocery shopping," Lili said pushing a cart next to Emil. "If he doesn't have to shop, he just goes to the counter and talk his ears off. But it's okay, Toris looks like he likes it."

"Are they dating or something?"

Lili scoffed and started her way through the store with Emil next to her. "Of course not. This is why Sophie and I call this our grocery store soap opera. Just when we think it's going to happen and we're at the edge of our seats, it never happens. So we come back next week for another installment."

"Weird, you'd think with him being a hairdresser, makeup artist, and YouTuber he'd be confident enough to ask his crush out."

"We all have our vulnerable moments," Lili spoke grabbing a box of granola bars. "I don't mind sharing my cart with you." She said looking at him.

"What?"

"You didn't grab a cart. Or a basket. Can't do much shopping without either one of those."

"Oh right." He has been caught up talking to Lili he forgot. "Thanks." He said, looking on the aisle they were on. Honestly, he hadn't been grocery shopping in a long time. Mostly because he never cooked anything. Before he moved somewhere he just ate out a lot, but now he had to get food for himself when it wasn't breakfast or dinner.

.

.

.

He figured he did a good job, with some help from Lili of course. Emil had enough snacks that'll last him a while, which was good because now he was really dead broke. Which reminded him to email those blogs and call local magazines. Can't make money when the means to make it isn't established.

Toris looked past Feliks. "Looks like your party is about to go soon. I'll see you next week?" He asked.

Feliks grinned. "Totally Toris. Like, when am I _not_ here?" He asked.

"You're right about that. It's always nice seeing you on Saturdays Feliks, makes my day a lot better." Toris said, a small blush starting to form on his face.

"Yeah, it makes my day better too Toris. I can't wait to see you again next Saturday."

"It's a date."

Feliks looked like he was going to scream, but instead, he just nodded and waved goodbye and walked away.

"And it looks like we're getting another installment next week," Lili spoke as she saw Feliks walk back to them, the smile had for Toris gone from his face.

Emil frowned. Poor guy. "So you just do this every week? You just talk to him and go back to being sad until you see him again?" He asked.

"Like, what else am I supposed to do, genius?"

"Um, ask him out on a date?"

Feliks laughed. "Like that'll ever happen. Your imagination is cute Emil."

"Why can't it happen? You like him, he obviously likes you back. Why not make something happen? The worse he can say is no."

"Well he likes me now, and we go on a date, and boom. He starts losing interest in me. Seeing him Saturday's is better than seeing him all the time. He can't get tired of me this way."

"You never know if you don't try."

"Oh I've tried, and the same thing happens every time. People just…get tired of me Emil. That's just the way life goes for me." He spoke quietly.

"Toris could be different. Give yourself a chance Feliks."

"Come on guys we're about to leave." Alfred called to the three of them as he headed out the door.

"Okay look, you ask him on a date right now, and I'll...let you do my makeup. Sounds fair?" Was that really a fair deal?

Feliks gasped. "You're gonna let me do your makeup? Oh my God you would totally slay some highlight with those cheekbones, and your lips look so pouty—"

"Feliks we're running out of time. Deal or not?"

"Oh right, deal. Totally a deal. Ask him out on a date? Sounds easy. For when? Next month?"

"Tonight."

Feliks winced. "Tonight?"

"It's now or never."

Feliks gave an annoyed groan and went back over to Toris. "Hey, back again."

Toris smiled. "I see. What brings you back here?"

"Um actually. I was thinking, like, did you...could we...Do you want to go out tonight?" He suddenly blurted.

Toris blinked. "Out like on a date?"

"Yeah we can go to dinner or see a movie or something."

Toris printed off some blank receipt tape and handed it over to Feliks. "A movie sounds nice. I get off at six, I'll pick you up maybe 7:30 to catch an eight o'clock show?"

Feliks felt like he had died and gone to heaven. "That sounds great, like really great." He grabbed a pen and scribbled down the house's address. "Here's my number and address. I'll like, see you tonight I guess."

"See you tonight Feliks." He said to him and with that Feliks scurried off to the van where everyone was waiting for him.

"How did it go?" Lili asked.

"Guess who's got a date tonight? Not any of you losers! It's me! I'm the one going on a date tonight!" He said as he cheered for himself in the front seat.

Natalya rolled her eyes. "Well, at least it went well."

* * *

"And then he told me that he would love to see a movie, told me when he got off work, told me when he'd come to get me, and I gave him my address and number, and told him that I'd see him tonight."

"Ugh, I can't believe I missed that. Of all the weeks to not go grocery shopping." Sophia said picking up her drink.

"It's okay you and Lili can help me pick out my outfit because I totally do not know what I'm wearing."

Elizabeta scoffed. "What about me? Is my fashion sense not good enough for you?"

Feliks winced some. "No it's not that I don't trust your fashion sense. It's just that..well..how do I put this? You're more like…a mom influence to me? I was kinda looking for more of a sister influence to help pick my clothes?"

Elizabeta gasped. "'Mom influence?'" She whispered.

"Yikes." Alfred whispered.

"Uh oh." Gilbert spoke next.

"Here we go." Natalya muttered last.

Elizabeta shook her head laughing some. "Oh sweetheart, no, I think you've got it all wrong. Just because I'm married, and a _tiny_ bit older than you—"

"10 years."

"Does _not_ make me a mom influence, uncool, or anything of the sort. I am still the coolest girl on the block that everyone wants to be friends with."

"I'm sure you were at some point, but now in this day and age you're just…"

"Old news?" Kiku offered.

"Washed up?" Natalya spoke next.

"In a different era of your life." Feliks managed to get out.

"Oh God." She said cupping her cheeks. "Am I washed up? Am I really old news? Am I just trying to be cool and failing miserably because no one has the _gall_ to tell me that I look like an idiot trying so hard?" Elizabeta asked, letting out a small squeak at the end.

"Oh Eliza," Roderich said putting a hand on top of hers. "You're not washed up, or old news, your life it just different from what it used to be. A new era of your life as Feliks called it. You don't have to be a cool thirty-something to be with the in-crowd, because you'll always be the beautiful twenty-something that I fell in love with."

"Oh Roderich," Elizabeta said smiling sweetly at him. "I don't wanna be your beautiful twenty-something, I wanna be a cool thirty-something."

Feliks rolled his eyes. "Alright, fine whatevs, I'll give you a chance. You can help me find something to wear for my date."

"Really?" Elizabeta asked before squealing excitedly. "Ugh this is going to be great, just us girls. Natalya you should help too."

"Oh, I don't care enough."

.

.

.

"Alright so date to the movies, what do we have?" Elizabeta asked sitting on Feliks' bed in between Lili and Sophia.

"Give me like, one more sec." Feliks spoke from the other side of his folding screen. He came out from the other side, revealing his maroon cropped sweatshirt and a pair of blue jean shorts, and black canvas shoes. "How about this?" He asked.

Before Lili or Sophia could say anything, Elizabeta spoke, "hmm, it's cute but I don't think it's formal enough. It is a date after all. Can't go on your first date in a sweatshirt."

"Lizzie's right Feliks. Maybe something more formal?" Lili said. Sophia nodded in agreement.

"Alright, totally get what you guys are saying, give me like, another second." With that, he disappeared back behind the screen. When he came back, he was dressed in a light pink mini skirt, with a sleeveless, olive green turtleneck crop top and white canvas shoes. "Cute?" He asked.

"Super cute." Sophia said nodding.

"Toris won't take his eyes off of you." Lili said next.

"Isn't it kind of...short?" Elizabeta asked.

"What is?"

"All of it?"

Feliks rolled his eyes. "That's the point, Lizzie. It's a crop top and miniskirt."

"Okay, that's nice and all, but how about a regular turtleneck to cover your arms, and a regular skirt that goes to your knees? It'll keep you nice and warm, and you'll still be cute."

Feliks rolled his eyes. "Okay. I'll be back I guess." He disappeared behind the folding screen and came out a couple of moments later. Feliks then came back in a burnt orange button-down dress, that was fitted spaghetti straps at the top, with a flared skirt. "I've been dying to wear this dress out somewhere. I bought it for the pockets of course." He said putting his hands in them.

"Oh, that's so cute," Lili said smiling.

"Yes, that would be cute with some sandals maybe?" Sophia offered.

"I think it would be better with a sweater. Since theaters are cold." Elizabeta said next with a nod.

Feliks facepalmed. "I knew it."

Elizabeta smiled. "See? I knew you would agree with me."

"Not the outfit, you."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. You're sounding like a mom again, and I knew it was going to happen but totally sweet Feliks wanted to give Mama Lizzie a chance."

"Wait!" She said standing up. "We can settle for a mid-thigh skirt instead of to your knees."

"Nope, out." He said sweeping her out with his hands.

"But Feliks, I was just trying to help!" She whined.

"You can help when my heart gets broken and I need more advice on boys and life in general. But fashion advice? Totally not." With that he closed the door, leaving her in the hallway.

And a moment later he opened the door again. "No hard feelings, I still love you." And he closed the door again.

Elizabeta sighed. "At least he still loves me." She said before heading to the staircase to go down to her room.

"Pssst."

She turned around, finding Natalya with her head poking out her door. "I heard everything," Natalya told her.

Elizabeta gave a half-smile. "So you know that I really am washed up, huh?"

"Oh most definitely, but we can be washed up together with this stupid bottle of wine I bought at the grocery store today." She said waving it around. "Gilbert claims that I'm a lot nicer when I'm wine drunk, so I'm testing the theory. And you seem in the era of wine mom, meet your new best friend."

She laughed slightly. "A wine mom? I'm not even a mom."

"So? It doesn't mean we can't enjoy a glass of wine and look at crafty ideas on Pinterest."

"...Alright, I'm sold." She said and went into Natalya's room.

* * *

Toris climbed up to the stairs of the house and knocked on the door.

A few minutes later, Feliciano answered the door. "Don't you look handsome for your date?" He said and invited him inside. "You can wait in the parlor, Feliks will be down in a minute."

"Thank you." He said with a nod and sat down in the parlor, waiting for his date.

Meanwhile, around the corner from the parlor, Lili and Sophia had been giving him a pep talk.

"You're a great person Feliks, he'd be crazy not to see that," Sophia said.

"Exactly. And plus, it's a movie, it's gonna take up a lot of the awkward silence." Lili added.

"You guys are totally right." He said nodding. "I got this, I like, soooo got this." He said and turned the corner, stopping when he saw him. Of course, he wasn't in his everyday work attire. He had been dressed a lot nicer in a button-up shirt and slacks. He was even wearing a nice jacket. Toris was so cute he thought he was going to faint.

And here he was in a long sleeve baby blue off-the-shoulder shirt, blue jeans, and suede colored booties. He must have looked like an idiot to him.

After realizing that he hadn't said anything to the other in a while, he smiled and walked over to him. "Hi Toris. You look so nice. Kind of weird seeing you in my house actually." He said with a giggle.

Toris blinked looking at him, and a smile came upon his face. "Feliks, I'm so...speechless. You look beautiful."

Feliks felt his heart leap. "Really?"

Toris nodded. "Yes of course. I'm so glad we're finally going out, I could never find the courage to ask you out, but I'm glad you did. I've had a crush on you for ages now." He admitted with a small laugh.

"Well, you can tell me all about how you like me on the way to the movies." He said wrapping his hands around his arm.

"I would love to."

.

.

.

Feliks and Toris came back at almost midnight. He parked in front of the house and walked him up to the door.

"So like, did you have as much fun as I did tonight?" Feliks asked as he swung their hands together.

"I did, maybe even a little more."

"Pfft, as if."

"Well I don't know, I did have fun holding you the whole time the movie was going on."

"Because you picked a scary movie what did you expect?" He said with a giggle. "But um, thank you for treating me out to a movie and ice cream afterward, totally took me by surprise."

Toris grinned. "I knew you'd like it."

"I loved it...Are we going to do this again?"

"Of course we are, and I can't wait until it happens again."

Feliks smiled looking up at him. "Like, me either."

Toris looked back at him and quickly leaned in to give him a small, but surprisingly long, a peck on the lips. "Wow I've wanted to do that for a long time now, but I should go before I make things more awkward. I'll call you." He said and hurried back to his car.

Feliks stood there with his eyes wide watching as he went back to his car. His hand came up and he slowly waved goodbye to him while his other hand was reaching for the door handle.

Suddenly the door came open and he was pulled into the house.

"Did Toris just kiss you?" Lili asked excitedly.

"Oh my God, we're you guys like spying on us?"

"Duh." Sophia said next.

"Then like, why do you need to ask? He totally kissed me."

With that the three of them cheered and squealed excitedly, jumping up and down together.

"Shut the hell up!" Lovino screamed from the other side of the house.

* * *

"You're literally like, the worse client I've ever had to work with. You move so much." Feliks told Emil as he continued to work on his makeup.

"Well sorry that I don't wear makeup. The brushes tickle my face." Emil spoke defensively. Why the _hell_ did he agree to this again?

"And also stop talking, everything moves when you talk. I'm almost done anyways, but I don't know I may have to go back and do your waterline again, you kind of cried it off."

"Oh God please leave my eyes alone."

"It's seriously not that bad."

"I don't know why women find the need to put makeup _in_ their eyes to look pretty. That should be considered a form of torture. And don't get me started on this whole 'baking' idea. What are you? A potato? Why do you need to 'bake'?"

"It all plays a part in the expectations society has on women Emil. Wake up and smell the oppression. And what did I tell you about talking?" He said before he started to slide his brush across his cheekbone. "Ugh, I knew it, your highlight, totally poppin'. Feliks you're a damn genius." He said as he did the other cheekbone and grabbed his blending sponge. "Alright, just gonna blend this out, put some lip gloss on, and you will be good to go," Feliks told him, and he did just that. He smiled at his finished work, turned Emil around in his chair, and gave him a mirror. "What do you think?"

Emil took the mirror. "Holy shit." He whispered. He observed his highlighted cheekbones and wingtip eyeliner. His glossy pink lips, and sparkly eyeshadow. Even his eyebrows looked better. "I look like a girl. I really look like a girl. Honestly, I'm like—"

"Shook?"

"Surprised at how hot I look. I'd date myself."

Feliks rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's go show everyone." He said and took his hand to lead him to the parlor until he stopped them right before the entrance.

"Feliks—"

"Before we show everyone, I just wanted to tell you thanks for what you did for me yesterday. You like, gave me a reason to ask him out, and let me do what I did best to you for asking him out. I went on a great date, and I wouldn't have if it wasn't for you."

Emil smiled some. Right, this was why he had this stupid makeup on his face. But in the end, it wasn't that bad. Was it impulsive and skewed more in Feliks' favor? Absolutely. But was it worth it? To see the smile on someone else's face, knowing that you played part in making them happy...maybe it was.

"It was the least I could do."

Feliks smiled softly back at him. "Okay, we're done being sappy, come on." He said and pulled Emil into the parlor where everyone was waiting. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the totally cute, Emily."

"Holy crap he looks really pretty as a girl," Sophia spoke.

"That's what I said," Emil spoke right after.

"I think I have a crush on you now?" Alfred spoke with uncertainty.

"He's like a pretty princess. Imagine him being in a ball gown with a crown on his head." Elizabeta said next before frowning. "Great now I wish you were a girl so I can dress you up."

"With a face like that and legs like those, I could recommend you to the dance company I work for. You'd fit right in." Natalya spoke with a smirk.

"Thanks but no thanks," Emil replied.

"So what's next Emil? Being a contestant for beauty pageants? Trying to take Vanna White's job on Wheel of Fortune?" Gilbert asked with a snicker.

"Um actually no. I was actually planning on going into the city to sign a contract to partner up with some local nature magazine."

"...Like that?"

Emil scoffed. "God no. I'm going to wipe this off so I can be a boy again."

Feliks frowned. "You're going to wipe your makeup off already? But I worked so hard on your face. You have to keep it on for a little longer."

"Well I have business to attend to Feliks, what do you expect me to do about this?"

.

.

.

"I hate myself," Emil spoke as he looked in the mirror. Instead of letting Emil take his makeup off, Feliks gave him a brunette wig, and a white blouse to go with his outfit, thus completing the illusion of Emil as a girl. He knocked on Lili's door. Literally the only good thing about this outing was Lili agreeing to drive him to the city.

Lili pulled her door open, smiling more when she saw him. "You're so cute Emil. Why don't you dress up like a girl more often?" She asked coming out of her room to lock it.

"Because cross-dressing is more of Feliks's thing, not mine."

"At least he didn't give you heels to wear, you really would have been screwed," Lili spoke with a giggle as she went downstairs to the back door with Emil in tow. She led him out to her car, and Lili unlocked it for both of them. "So to the city to sign some contracts?"

Emil nodded. "Yep exactly that."

With a nod, Lili turned over her engine and started her way into town. "You know even if you're driving around as a girl today, what you did for Feliks was really nice. I don't think he would have ever done it."

"It was nothing, really."

"What made you do it?"

"Huh?"

"You don't seem like the type of person to strike up a deal that would involve you looking like a girl. So, what made you do it?"

Emil shrugged. "I don't know. He just looked like he needed a push, I guess. Some extra help. I didn't think that I'd have makeup on my face for a million years, but I know that Feliks is into that kinda stuff. I thought with the right incentive he'd be able to ask Toris out, and what's a little makeup on my face to make someone happy, you know?"

Lili smiled softly. "Yes, I understand completely. A moment of sacrifice can mean a lifetime of happiness for another. It looks good on you Emil."

"What does?"

"Being selfless to others."

He scoffed. "I can be selfless. It's nothing rare, okay?"

"I believe you, I'd just like to see for myself."

.

.

.

Lili pulled up outside the building Emil had the address for. He took off his seatbelt and looked at the building. "Okay, this shouldn't take long. I already talked to him on the phone, so all I have to do is sign my contract. I'll be right back."

She nodded. "Okay, I'll be here. Good luck."

With that, Emil got out of the car, and headed into the building, to the receptionist's desk. A young lady looked up at him and smiled. "Good afternoon ma'am. What can I assist you with?"

Emil paused for a second, forgetting that he was still dressed as a woman. "Yes, I'm looking for the _Naturebound_ magazine office?" He spoke in his usual, male voice.

This made the woman blink clearly surprised in Emil's look. "Take the elevator up and to the 3rd floor. Suite 330." She spoke, still smiling at him.

He nodded. "Thank you." And made his way over to the elevator, where he climbed on when it opened. Emil took the elevator up to the 3rd floor and walked down to suite 330, _Naturebound_ magazine. He pushed the door open, finding rows of desktop computers, and people working at them. Off to the side was a separate room to develop photos, and a small printing press on the opposite side of the room. The back of the room was an office for Yao Wang, the man he spoke on the phone to yesterday.

He headed to the back of the room and knocked on the door. Soon a voice told him to "Come in."

He pushed the door open and gave a polite wave. "Hello Mr. Wang. I'm Emil Steilsson, we talked on the phone yesterday."

The Chinese man looked at him strangely. "I thought you were a male the phone?"

"Oh, I am." He said quickly. "I just...ended up as a hairdresser's makeup model before leaving home. I-I have photos of myself as a male if you want to see–"

"No it's fine, it's fine. Not judging, i was just was a little confused. But you're the one taking the pictures, of course, you won't be in the pictures themselves."

"Yes exactly," Emil said nodding. "Did you like the photos I emailed to you?"

"Loved them. Your style will fit great with our next issue." He said, pulling out the contract. Yao slid it over to him.

Emil sat down and looked over the contract.

"So you'll only be in town for the month? You put the 'free' in 'freelance.'"

Emil gave a small chuckle. "Yes I do travel often. I don't try to stay in the same place long."

Yao nodded. "No problem with that. Now with your contract, since you'll be here for only one month, your contract is modified."

Emil read over the contract, looking at it strangely. "Am I not being paid for the photos I submit?"

"So typically with other contracts, we don't pay for your photos until about 3 months in. Then all of the images we buy from you will be all on backpay in one check. You're just being paid per circulation."

"And that's, 20 percent per circulation?"

"Correct."

Something wasn't right. This didn't feel right at all honestly. He wouldn't get paid for the pictures, just based on how many copies they sell in the circulation of the issue. And even with that, he was only getting 20 percent of those sales.

There was no way he was signing this contract.

Emil shook his head and slid the contract back to Yao. "I-I'm sorry Mr. Wang, I just don't think this is the contract I'm looking for."

Yao shrugged. "Understandable. Though I don't think you'll find a better deal for someone looking to be contracted for just the month."

Emil stood. "Perhaps not, but I think I'm better than this. Sorry for wasting your time." With that, Emil turned to leave.

"You won't get hired in this town for a month. Not with the pictures you're taking. You'll see the mistake you made a month from now."

Emil looked back at him. "I won't be here a month from now. It's what the "free" in 'freelance' means." With that, he left the office and left the suite.

...

Lili jumped when she heard the car door open, sighing in relief to see it was just Emil. "Hey, how was it?"

"Absolutely terrible, the contract was complete bullshit." He spoke, putting his seatbelt on.

Lili frowned as she started up the car. "Sorry to hear that. What are you going to do now?"

Emil sat back in the seat. "I have no idea Lili." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end of chapter 2. Sorry if this was such a read. I just wanted to get some more personality in the house. it's a lot of characters so I want to make sure they're all interacting and rotating out situationally. Chapters will be this long/short depending on the situation of the chapter. It's kind of day by day-ish since it'll be a short fic in general. But yah, enough logistics of all of this, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please comment and Kudos! Until next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short-ish chapter kind of. Still posting on FF.Net for those who prefer to read there, but I'm getting more traffic on AO3 so that's good too. The comments are really helping, so I encourage others to comment as well just so I know people are enjoying this. Happy reading!

Within the next few days in the house, Emil spent his time adjusting and researching. There was a bus stop in town that he could take to the city. The mall in the city had a photography studio inside, so maybe he could apply to work there. Then again that might be the last resort if he couldn't find work around town, he liked doing his photography work on his own. Not to mention the people. He hated photographing people.

But today he got enough for bus fare. Emil figured that _something_ had to have it's picture taken somewhere in the city. He left of out his room and to his neighbor's door, knocking on it.

Sophia came to the door moments later. "Yes?" She asked.

"Wanna come to the city with me?"

"For?"

"Your companionship while I'm taking photos."

Sophia rolled her eyes. "Sure. I haven't been out all week. I might as well get some fresh air." She said and slipped on some shoes and her jacket. "Lead the way."

* * *

Emil didn't get the chance to look around the city when Lili took him to sign his contract. That was a business trip, and this trip was all pleasure. The tall buildings, bright lights, and moving cars excited Emil. It was busy, and Emil liked it. Once they got dumped off at a bus stop in the heart of the city, Sophia looked at him. "Alright, what's our first stop?"

Emil looked at his surroundings, turning on the camera hanging around his neck. "I have no idea."

She sighed. Of course he didn't know where he was going or what he wanted to do. "Further up that way is a park, back down this way is the subway entry, all the way out that way is the boardwalk, and all that stuff up there is consumer stuff like shops and restaurants."

Emil nodded in understanding. "You're not gonna get me lost, are you? You're the only person I have right now."

"Don't worry. We're not as alone as you think. Some people work in the city. You'll see Gilbert all around the buildings since he works in hair salon Feliks works at is further up. The dance studio Natalya works at isn't far from here, and the nursing home Lili works at isn't too far either."

"Lili works in the city?"

Sophia rolled her eyes. "Was that the only thing you heard me say?"

Emil scoffed. "No, you said something about the other people that live in the house too. Now take me on a tour around the city."

"Fine, but this better involve lunch."

"We can have lunch as long as you're paying."

* * *

Even if Sophia complained the whole time, she wasn't that bad of a tour guide at all. He ended up with some nice photos of the city park, some long shots of the tall buildings, action shots of the moving subway, and photos of the midway on the boardwalk.

Emil and Sophia stopped into a shop on the boardwalk for a couple of scoops of ice cream. While Sophia was enjoying her ice cream on the patio outside the shop, she looked strangely at Emil's ice cream. "Why is your ice cream black?"

"It's black licorice." He said licking the ice cream.

Sophia made a face. "That's gross. You're gross."

"I'm not gross. Black licorice has an underappreciated taste that no one understands."

"No, it has a terrible taste that no one likes."

"At least whenever I go to a shop they'll always have my favorite flavor. That's the best thing about liking black licorice ice cream."

"You're not wrong about that." She said, licking her strawberry ice cream. "So you've been in the house for a few days now. How is it for you so far?"

"You were right when you said we have some...characters in the house, but so far it hasn't been too bad. Everything is just really…"

"Weird?"

"Yeah."

"Don't worry I know the feeling. For weeks I felt like I was living on some stranded island with everyone else in the house. I still feel like that sometimes, since I work at home. But on the days I get out, days like this, I'm reminded that there are people living much more boring lives than I am."

"You don't think your life is boring?"

"Oh far from it. With everyone in the house together, I'm never bored. I spend most of my days drawing, but when people start to come home I feel like I start my day. Alfred always tells me about his day at school, while Matthew does his homework in the study for hours. Then Roderich and Lizzie come home and I get to talk to them before they start dinner with Feli. Then on the days that Feliks has to record a video for his YouTube, he asks for my help and Lili's help and that's always fun. Seeing Gil and Nat interact is strangely entertaining, and on days where it gets really boring in the house I'll sit in Kiku's room and watch him stream his video games."

Emil nodded as she listened to her words. "That sounds like a really boring life to me."

"Well sorry Emil, not everyone can hop around from place to place so easily. So maybe I can't travel how I want, but at least I'm surrounded by people that care about me as much as I care about them. I'm halfway happy."

"Halfway happy?"

"I'd be a lot happier with a dog."

Emil laughed at that before shaking his head. "You know I don't see what's so great about the people that live there. They're just regular people. Roderich and Elizabeta are nice, Feliciano is pretty sweet, you're cool to hang out with, Alfred's annoying, I can never hear what Matthew is saying, Natalya is super mean, Gilbert is ridiculously cocky, Kiku's always playing video games, Feliks can't say a sentence without the words 'like' or 'totally' and Lili is an angel that fell from heaven. How you manage to get so much entertainment out of them, I'll never know."

"Well you may really never know Mr. One-Month, it's going to take more than 30 days to see beyond what you're seeing in all of them. And did you just call Lili an angel?"

"Maybe that's true and maybe I did."

Sophia shook her head. "I knew you had a crush on Lili."

"Is she single?"

"Mhmm, but definitely not looking for _your_ type."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean that you're not a good match for Lili. As someone that's known her since she's moved in, and being the only other person that's lived on the same hall as her, I know her pretty well. Lili is a stop-and-smell-the-roses kind of person, you're more of a…too-busy-to-do-anything kind of person. You see how those personalities don't really match up?"

"Okay first of all, I'm totally a stop-and-smell-the-roses kind of person. I'm a goddamn photographer, I stop and smell the roses for a _living_."

"You stop to smell the roses because you have to, she stops and smells the roses because she wants to. Again, you see the difference?"

Emil sighed. "Okay maybe my dream of her being my wife by the time I move out is a bit far fetched, but my entire life would be made if I could just take her out on a date before I move. Just one."

"One date huh? I think you could swing that. It won't be easy to catch her eye, she's kind of oblivious when it comes to romantic advances towards her, but if you get her attention romantically she'd be willing to go on a date."

"And how do you suppose I get her attention?"

"Well, that's the hard part. Like I said, pretty oblivious when it comes to romantic advances, so your best bet pretty much is being selfless." Sophia spoke in thought.

"Being selfless? Did she tell you that?"

"No."

"Oh, well she just told me Sunday that she liked that I was selfless when it came to helping Feliks get his date with Toris."

Sophia smiled some. "Yeah, stuff like that. She loves when people do stuff like that, but she's not stupid, so don't try being nice to everyone in the house all of a sudden. It's gotta be genuine help if you want to catch her attention. Like what you did with Feliks, it was genuine, and she liked that...Plus she wouldn't shut up about you doing it for him." She said, muttering the last part.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just, whatever you do, make sure it's genuine. You've got to really be willing to help whoever you want to help to catch her attention."

"Sure. Being nice. I can be nice without forcing it."

"I believe you. I just want to see it for myself."

Emil blinked. Lili said the same thing too. They were either oddly alike or just tell each other everything. Probably the latter.

* * *

Lili sighed as she clocked out. 5:45, she'd definitely make it on time for dinner tonight. She grabbed her jacket and headed out the workroom, and out the door, telling everyone goodnight on the way. She found her keys in her pocket and pulled them out, heading to her car. She paused when she saw two people hanging around by her car.

"Hey! Took you long enough to get off!"

Lili grinned and ran over to her car. "Hey, what are you guys doing here?" She asked as she hugged Sophia.

"We were in the city, and stuck around for you to get off work so we could go home together."

Lili smiled at Emil. "That was really nice of you guys. It was a pleasant surprise." She said and hugged Emil as well.

Emil hugged her back and thought he was going to melt when he inhaled her strawberry scented conditioner.

.

.

.

When they made it home, they made it just in time for dinner.

Alfred frowned when he saw the three walk into the dining room. "Aw man, I thought you guys were Feliks." He said before going back to eating.

"Sorry to disappoint," Emil spoke as he sat down at the table.

"What do you need with Feliks? He's not here yet?" Lili asked next.

"No, he texted me that they were pretty busy at the hair salon because they had a wedding party booked," Elizabeta said.

"And tomorrow's picture day at school, so he wants Feliks to do his hair," Matthew said next.

"Mhmm, I was thinking about a lighter color in my hair for the perfect beach blond look. That way, if I end up a bald slob in the future, they'll have that high school picture to look back at and know that I was _not_ always a bald slob."

Natalya rolled her eyes. "You're doing it the wrong way, Alfred. You have to look like a slob in high school now, so in the future people will be surprised that you grew up hot."

"Okay but Nat, have you seen me? It's kinda hard to look better when you're already lookin' this good, I mean c'mon."

She shook her head. "You need to stop hanging out with Gilbert."

"Nope, that's all Alfred, Nat. Granted, sounds like me a lot, but definitely not me." Gilbert interjected.

"Not you, just inspired by you," Roderich said next.

"Was that supposed to be an insult because I definitely didn't take it as one."

* * *

Feliks pushed the front door open, pulling his cosmetic trunk in with him. It was quiet in the house, but someone was in the parlor. He walked in the parlor and found Lovino talking on the phone. "Oh, it's just you Lovi."

Lovino pulled the phone away from his ear. "What do you want?"

"Nothing, just seeing who was in the parlor. Are you talking to your boyfriend?"

"It's none of your business who I'm talking to."

"Yeah okay, tell Antonio I said hi." He said and made his way out the parlor and to his room. He dragged his trunk up the staircase. "Ugh, this is so a job for a boy." He grunted, pulling the trunk up another stair. When he made it up to the top of the stairs, he stopped in front of his room, fishing out his keys.

Alfred poked his head out of his room. "Well, it's about time you came home from work."

Feliks looked back at him. "Yeah, I had like, one of the longest days ever."

"Well, it's about to get longer because I need you to lighten my hair for my school picture tomorrow."

Feliks rolled his eyes. "Oh come on Alfred, I'm tired, I haven't eaten, and I would you believe me if I said I'm tired of doing hair?" He said unlocking his door.

"Please Feliks? Pretty please with sprinkles on top?"

"I'm cutting back on sprinkles, I'm trying to watch my figure."

"Okay, okay. Um, if you do my hair for me I'll do your laundry for a week."

Feliks paused. "You know how to do laundry?"

"Well I'm sure I'll get Mattie to do it, but you get what I'm saying."

Feliks walked up to him. "You should have called me earlier." He said and punched him in the chest, which made him cough harshly. "Come to my room in like, 5 minutes." With that, he went into his room, pulling his things in, and leaving Alfred gasping for breath.

.

.

.

Feliks spread the bleach mixture over Alfred's hair evenly. He had changed in his pajamas, and had his headphones in, talking to Toris on the phone. Meanwhile, Alfred also had his headphones in, listening to music.

"Ugh, it was so long Toris. Like, why the hell did you decide to set up an appointment 30 minutes before we close for 12 people? First of all, how do you have 12 bridesmaids? Like, I don't even like that many people to even have as my bridesmaids." Once he was done spreading the bleach, he popped a shower cap on his head. "I'll come back up in a few minutes. Just sit here and let the bleach do it's thing, 'kay?"

Alfred nodded, not looking away from his phone.

With that Feliks went downstairs to heat up tonight's dinner, still talking on the phone with Toris.

...

Half an hour later, Feliks came back upstairs to his room and pulled off his shower cap, and gasped violently. "Toris I'll call you in the morning." He said and hung up the phone.

Alfred looked up at him, pulling his headphones out his ears. "Do I go wash my hair now?"

Feliks winced. "Um, yeah totally wanna wash your hair out soon, but, I think you should like, look at it first…" He said and grabbed a mirror handing it to Alfred.

Alfred took the mirror and looked at his hair, and gasped covering his mouth. Instead of the light blonde look he was going for, his hair was snow white. "Feliks, how did…What did...Why do I look like a grandpa?" He whined.

"I don't know, I didn't use that strong of a developer." He said going over to his trash, and shuffling through it. He pulled out the used bottle of developer, reading it. "So I thought I was using a 20 volume for 30 minutes, but as it turns out, I was using a 30 volume for 30 minutes…"

"So what does that mean?"

"I screwed up and I'm _very_ sorry."

"Feliks picture day is tomorrow, how am I supposed to take a picture with _this_ hair?"

"I don't know Alfred. If I had dye I would dye it back. And if there was a beauty supply store open I would go in a heartbeat for you, but right now all you can do is wash it out so it doesn't get worse."

"How can it get worse than this?"

"Your hair will start falling out."

Alfred ripped off his salon cape and ran to the bathroom.

* * *

The next morning Emil walked downstairs for breakfast, greeting everyone with a "good morning."

Matthew came in after him, fully dressed for school. He put his backpack on the side of him and sat down at the table.

"Where's Alfred?" Feliciano asked.

"He's—"

"Jesus Christ what happened to your hair?" Gilbert asked when Alfred walked into the dining room also dressed for school.

"I asked for my hair to be lightened, instead I got it whitened."

"I kinda.. used the wrong developer on his hair last night when I was bleaching it." Feliks muttered.

Alfred slumped down in his seat. "I can't believe I'm taking my sophomore picture as a grandfather."

Emil looked at him for a moment. "I think I can help." He said and left from the table and up to his room. When he came back down, he had a grey beanie in his hand. "Here you go. Everyone looks cool in a beanie."

Alfred slipped on the beanie and looked at himself on his phone. "Huh, really can't tell. Thanks Emil."

"No problem, now you'll be known as the kid that took a picture in a hat."

"Alfred the bus is coming soon, so finish up your breakfast so you and your brother can head to school."

"So what am I supposed to tell people when I have to take this hat off in class?"

"Oh don't worry, I've got an excuse for that too." Emil said next.

* * *

There was one more person ahead of Alfred before it was his turn. He massaged his cheeks, doing quick smile exercises. Then he was called next. Alfred walked up, giving the photographer his photo ticket and sitting on the stool in front of a grey backdrop.

"Alright the beanie is cool, but I'm gonna need you to lose it. It's blending in with the background." The photographer said.

Alfred winced. "Uh, I don't think I can do that."

"But you have to."

"But I can't."

"Do your arms not work? Take off the hat."

"But—"

"Mr. Jones, do as the photographer says and take off that hat." His English teacher demanded.

Sighing, Alfred slipped off the beanie, and he could have sworn he heard everyone gasp.

The teacher went to him. "Alfred, what happened to your hair?" She asked.

Then he remembered the comforting words Emil told him, to tell everyone else about his hair. "My, ah, brother Mattie decided to scare me before school today, and the color hasn't returned to my hair yet." He said before bursting into laughter. He'd have to give Emil credit. It was a pretty funny joke, yet no one else was laughing. "T-The color in my hair...It's white? Cause I got so scared?" He tried to explain.

His teacher beckoned him over. "Come with me."

The teacher took him to the principal's office, and the principal called Feliciano, who was the guardian on file for the twins. However when he didn't answer the phone, the principal hung up. "Mr. Vargas isn't answering the phone. Do you have another number we can contact?"

"Um, I think so."

.

.

.

Elizabeta pulled up to the school. Luckily she was on lunch break, but she was sure there wasn't going to be much of a break after this was taken care of. She went into the school and into the principal's office. "Hi, I'm Elizabeta Héderváry, one of Alfred's guardians. What seems to be the problem?"

The principal shook Elizabeta's hand. "Thank you for coming down today Miss Héderváry, we seem to have some concerns involving Alfred."

"Concerns such as?"

"Well, his rather.. shocking hair color is inappropriate for school. It is in our school dress code that we do not permit distracting hair colors."

She looked at the woman strangely. "That's why we have him a hat. Where is his hat?"

"Ah yes, his little add on." She said pulling the hat out of her drawer and plopping it on her desk. "The hat is also not a part of the dress code. And I'm sorry to say Miss Héderváry, but we cannot permit him to take a school photo at this time."

Elizabeta couldn't hide her face of annoyance. Here she was thinking she was being called for a fight, but no, she was called out of work for a damn hair color.

This is why she hated high school.

The Hungarian looked at her desk and smiled politely. "Well, since you've found the need to call me out of work, keep him out of class, and ultimately waste both of our time, I'm taking him to get his picture taken with his hat _on_ , so you can just have a question mark for his picture in the school year book for all I care." She said and looked back down at her desk, and plucked a single Tootsie Roll from the bowl of candy on the desk. She held it up between her fingers. "Do you see this?" She asked the principal.

The principal wordlessly nodded.

"Okay, keep your eyes on it." She said and walked over to the empty trash can in the office. She dropped it in the trash can, and a soft _tink_ could be heard in the room.

Elizabeta turned on heel back towards them. "Now, _all_ of our time has been wasted." She said in a low voice, and grabbed Alfred's hat, tossing it back to him. "Come on Alfred." She said and walked out the office.

Alfred watched Elizabeta leave out the office. He quickly scrambled to put his hat on, and looked over at the speechless principal, then down at the bowl of candies. Alfred grabbed a handful of tootsie rolls and stuffed them in his pocket before he quickly left to catch up with Elizabeta.

"So, what are we doing now?" He asked.

"I'm taking you to get some hair dye, then I'm taking you home."

"We're not getting pictures made?"

She unlocked the car from afar. "Emil can take your pictures after dinner tonight if you want them done."

"Okay, that sounds cool...Can I tell you something though?" He asked before getting in the car.

"Anything."

"The whole dropping the candy in the trash thing, total badass."

Elizabeta laughed at that. "I've done worse things to worse people."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter, more to come of course. Please be sure to leave comments and kudos, they help a lot and the validation is nice :) Pls help a sister out, until next chapter everyone!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a minute, I'm still writing this story so I'm trying to stay ahead. I've also been kinda slow updating here because I'm so used to FF.Net (Been updated a couple of days now). So if you do want to read ahead, new chaps will most likely be on FF.Net first! Happy reading!

Emil looked up at the ceiling. While it was only his second week in the house, he felt his time winding down faster than usual. He hadn't found work, and he didn't know when he would find work. It was nerve-wracking really, he needed a plan by the end of the month. He needed money by the end of the month and _definitely_ needed somewhere to stay by the end of the month.

There was a knock at his door, and he stood to answer it. He pulled it open, smiling when he saw Lili. "Hey Lili, do you need anything?"

She smiled at him politely. "Um, I was just wondering if you wanted to come to sit on the deck with Sophia and I? It's such a nice day, and I'm off today, so I just wanted to enjoy the nice day lounging on the back porch."

Emil raised an eyebrow. "You're off today and you're going to spend it sitting outside?"

"Mhmm. It's very peaceful. I don't know why, but I just love relaxing and watching the world pass. Sophia likes to call me a stop-and-smell-the-roses kind of person." She said with a giggle.

He thought for a minute. That was the difference, he saw it. If Emil had a day off, he damn sure wouldn't be spending it sitting on a back porch. However, Lili was a different person, and he wanted to see what her life was like as Lili. "Let's have a relaxing day on the back porch."

Lili grinned. "Thank you so much. Honestly, I didn't think you'd say yes. You don't seem like the relaxing type, but it'll be nice, I swear. Sophie is already outside, so if you have to get ready or anything, I'll be outside, okay?"

Emil laughed. "Lili it's just outside I don't have to get ready."

"Great! Well, let's go." She said and grabbed his hand pulling him along.

Emil felt a shock run through his body. He was surprised he remembered to close his door behind him. He was holding the hand of an angel.

Lili led him downstairs and out the back door where Sophia was sitting in a lounging chair, and Elizabeta, Roderich, Natalya, and Gilbert were already sitting at the table, smoking cigarettes. "Hi everyone, look who I brought." Lili greeted.

Emil waved at everyone. "Hey, here to enjoy the day." He said and sat on the porch swing.

"Here to stop and smell the roses?" Sophia asked with a smirk.

"Yes, I'm here to stop and smell the roses. Is it a problem?" He asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Nope. No problem at all."

Lili sat next to Emil on the swing and sat back with a sigh. "Sometimes, I wish I had more days like this."

"Only sometimes?" Emil questioned.

"Only sometimes, because the more days you have like this, the less you appreciate them."

"Hmm," Emil said in thought. He didn't think of it like that. To him, outside was just..outside.

"You're in luck Emil, you'll get to meet my not-as-awesome-as-me brother this weekend," Gilbert said as he took a drag from his cigarette.

"Ludwig's coming this weekend? Wait until Feliciano hears." Elizabeta said.

"You have a brother Gilbert?" Emil asked.

"Yep, I'm the proud owner of a little brother."

Roderich passed his cigarette to his wife. "Though in height comparison you'd think the opposite."

"He didn't have to know that detail, but he's coming to visit for the weekend. I'm sure at this point he only comes to visit to see Feli, but as long as he tells me his visit is for me then I have no reason to complain."

"So are Feliciano and your brother dating?"

"Eh, kinda? They always go on a date when he's here, and spend time with each other when he's not spending time with me."

"Interesting." He said nodding. "So, are you and Natalya dating?"

"It's complicated." He and Natalya spoke in unison.

"That's what you call it?" Elizabeta asked with a raised brow.

"Okay, it's on and off dating. And currently, we are—"

"Off. Fucking off." Natalya answered for both of them.

"Emphasis on the fucking."

"I will burn you with my cigarette. Do you want to be burned with my cigarette?"

"And also, why do you smoke cigarettes if you dance?" Emil asked.

Natalya looked over at him. "It curbs my appetite. Plenty of girls do it for that reason."

"Really?"

"It's either that or you turn to anorexia and bulimia to keep your figure. Dancing is not as beautiful a sport as one may think."

Emil never knew that. That was actually pretty...interesting to him. "How long have you guys been married?" He asked, finding a sudden interest in everyone else's life.

"Almost 10 years, we met in college," Elizabeta replied with a smile.

"So I imagine that you weren't working together in a cafe before moving here?"

"Together, yes, but not in a cafe. Before this I was an orchestra musician, and she worked in the sound and light booth." Roderich explained.

"But then you have faulty wiring in your house and end up with a devastating house fire that forces you to basically start your life over." Elizabeta added.

Emil frowned some. "No home insurance?"

Elizabeta put the cigarette out. "It was supposed to be a starter home. We weren't even going to live there for more than 2 years."

"You'd think we'd be able to babysit a house well enough. I couldn't imagine what we'd do with a child." Roderich spoke with a shake of his head.

"It wasn't our fault, and you know that. We were set up in a shit house because they knew we weren't staying long enough to care about the wiring, knowing it should have been fixed in the first place."

Emil frowned at that. "Aw, what? You didn't want to sue? You should definitely sue."

"I wanted to sue, but Roderich thought it was just another one of my conspiracy theories," Elizabeta said with a roll of her eyes.

"Because it is just a conspiracy. No one sabotaged us into getting a terrible starter home, we just invested with the wrong people."

"Which is why we should _sue_ , Roderich," Elizabeta said in an exasperated voice.

"Elizabeta, we are not talking about this anymore. I'd rather not lose more money go through the process of suing just to lose. We're saving our money for a house we're sure is up to par, along with home insurance so this doesn't happen again."

Sighing, Elizabeta stood and stretched. "Fine. Don't come crying to me when that shitty realtor goes to jail for selling shitty houses."She smiled and waved at the younger tenants. "I'm going back inside, figured a nap is in order. Enjoy the day relaxing everyone."

Roderich shook his head. "I'm heading back inside as well, spend the day writing sheet music." He said standing up.

Gilbert put his cigarette out. "Yeah it's a nice day and all, but I probably shouldn't be out in the sun too long; being albino and whatnot."

Natalya stood up after him. "And I'm _not_ rubbing that Aloe Vera lotion all over you again. So get inside."

"Yes ma'am."

After they all shuffled back inside, Emil stood and went over to the lounge chair and sat back in the chair, closing his eyes. "Hm, this whole relaxing and letting the world pass idea isn't half bad." He said. The sun was warm, and the breeze was short and cool. It was pretty great. Not as great as spending it at the beach per se, but still pretty great.

Lili continued to swing on the porch swing. "See? You're enjoying the day after all."

Then not far off from the deck, there was rustling in the bushes. Sophia sat up in her chair slightly. "What was that noise?"

"Ignore it. We're leisure-ing today." Emil said, not opening his eyes.

The rustling sound came from the bush again.

"There it is again," Lili said next.

"Sounds like someone wants adventure, rather leisure."

"But aren't you curious about what it is?"

"Nope. It's probably a squirrel and you guys are making a big deal out of nothing."

The rustling sound now turned into mewling.

Instantly Lili and Sophia got up from their spots and went down to the bush.

"What do you think it is?" Sophia asked.

Lili started to search the bush, gasping at what she saw. After a moment of untangling twigs, she ended up pulling out an orange tabby cat.

"Aww, it was a kitty." She said stroking behind its ear.

Lili cradled the cat in her arms. "Yeah, he was stuck between the twigs." She stroked his fur and held him out to look at him. He didn't have a collar. "Hey, what were you doing tangled up in that bush?" She asked the cat, but of course, there was no response. Lili held him close and took him back up on the deck. "Emil look, it was a kitten in the bushes."

Emil opened his eyes looking at the kitten in Lili's hand. "So much for a day of leisure." He said, shaking his head.

"We can still have a nice relaxing day with a cat Emil." Lili spoke as she set the cat down on the ground. The cat mulled around for a little before finding its way onto Emil's lap and laying there.

"See? He likes you." Sophia said next.

"What should we name him?" Lili asked.

"I was thinking of something like Columbo."

"That's a dumb name." Emil chimed in as he stroked the cat.

"Oh yeah? Well, you got a better one, genius?"

"How about 'Cat' since we aren't keeping him so he doesn't need a name?"

Lili looked uneasy. "I don't like the name, nor the notion it goes with."

"And also, don't speak so negatively around the cat, he has ears too you know," Sophia said picking him up.

Emil scoffed. "Are you two serious? We can't keep this cat. We don't know where it's been if it's ever had shots, not to mention the fact that Feliciano will _definitely_ say no to having a cat in the house."

"Well, we can't just leave him out here Emil."

"So we'll take him to a pound, problem solved."

Lili and Sophia both gasped, stepping away from him. "So they can just _kill_ poor little Charlie?!" Lili exclaimed.

"Ew, no. I don't like Charlie, that's my cousin's name." Sophia said to her.

"Okay maybe not Charlie, but we have to keep...whatever his name is. How about we take the day to train him, and then by the time family time comes around, he will be fully trained and ready to move in. No one can say no to a trained cat." Lili said.

"I like the way you think Lili," Sophia said with a smile. "But first, a name because seriously, what are we gonna call him?"

"Well he's orange, maybe we can call him something orange related like...Carrot, or Cheeto."

"Or Clementine." Sophia offered.

"Oh that's a good one, but it sounds kind of feminine. We need one notch down from Clementine."

"Clemson."

The two looked over at Emil. "What did you say, Emil?"

"Clemson. You know, 'Go tigers!'" He said pumping his fist in the air. Lili and Sophia stared at him blankly. Emil dropped his hand in defeat. "Nothing? Okay, that's fine—"

"Okay we may not know what it's in reference to, but we've got our name, and it's Clemson," Lili said stroking behind his ear, making him purr.

"Alright, so we need obstacles, treats, a litter box, and cat litter," Sophia said.

"Right, but what do we need obstacles for?"

"So we can teach him to jump through hoops. Surely he'd be more likable if we can teach him a party trick like that."

"Oh, you're right. Emil, are you coming?"

Emil looked over at the two. "Do I have a choice?"

"Seems like you made your choice when you named him Clemson, obviously you're interested," Sophia said.

He sat up sighing. "This better not be a waste of a Wednesday."

* * *

"Come on Clemson!" Lili called as she tried to beckon him to jump through the hoop she was holding up.

"You're not doing it right," Sophia spoke, taking the hoop from her.

Lili scoffed. "Well, how do you know I'm doing it wrong?"

"Because I just looked up 'how to train a cat' on WikiHow, and what you were doing was not in the instructions." She moved the hoop closer to Clemson and grabbed the snacks. "Okay Clemson, for being a good cat, you get a treat." She said handing him a snack.

Then she grabbed another snack and placed it on the opposite side of the hoop. Clemson walked through the hoop and ate the snack he was being offered.

"See? Better results already." She said looking back at Lili.

"Wow you're like a cat whisperer Sophie," Lili said watching her friend.

"Alright, the cat box thingy is set up." Emil said coming over to them.

"You mean the cat litter?" Sophia corrected looking back at him.

"Whatever." He spoke and picked up the cat. "Come on Clemson, check out your new cat box thingy." He said and brought him up to the deck and next to the cat litter. Clemson walked over to the cat litter and walked around in the litter before using the bathroom in it. Emil couldn't help but smile. "Good job, you did it, Clemmy." He said picking him up.

"Did you just call him 'Clemmy?'" Sophia asked.

"I was trying it on for size as a nickname." He said stroking under Clemson's chin which made him purr delightedly.

"That's kind of a cute nickname," Lili said walking over to also pet Clemson.

"He's doing so good already. We'll have a house cat in no time." Sophia said and took Clemson out of his hands to put him back on the ground to continue training him.

.

.

.

Alfred pushed the front door open and Matthew closed it behind them.

"I'm going to study Al, let me know when dinner's ready." Matthew said walking back to the study.

"Sure thing. Let me know if you need a snack, I'll tell you what we have."

Matthew paused. "You wouldn't just get me a snack?"

"Listen I'm doing half the job already. I'm not some Butler, Mattie." Alfred said before heading to the kitchen.

Matthew shook his head before heading through the house.

Alfred pulled open the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. He looked out on the deck, seeing Sophia on the deck drawing at the table.

He went to the back sliding the door open and walking out. "Hey Soph." He greeted.

Sophia looked up. "Oh hey Alfred. You and Mattie are home already?"

"Yeah, we didn't have to work today."

"Wow, neither one of you? No one had to work today honestly." She said before snorting. "Except Feliks." She stated and went back to drawing in her sketch pad.

"What are you drawing?"

Her pencil pointed towards the sleeping Clemson on the other side of the table.

Alfred gasped softly. "Kitty." He whispered.

"You can pet him, he sleeps pretty good."

Alfred reached out and softly rubbed him behind his ear. "Where did you find him?"

"He was stuck between the bushes, so Lili, Emil, and I took it on ourselves to train and adopt him to convince Feliciano to keep him as the house cat."

"Aw that's such a good idea." He said in awe. "What did you name him?"

"Clemson."

"Really? That's cool. Go tigers." He said with a nod.

"Thank you Alfred, I'm glad someone knows about the Clemson Tigers." Emil said from the porch swing with Lili.

"Are they a band?" Lili asked curiously.

"No actually, they are a football team."

Lili looked puzzled. "I've never heard of them as a football team."

"American football." Emil explained.

"Oh, gotcha."

"Yeah, and college American football at that." He said before looking back at Clemson. "So how are you gonna get Feli to say 'yes' to our new mascot?"

"We thought about presenting him during family time for the night's activity, and do a democratic vote on if he stays or goes."

"Okay, I'm up for that." He said with a nod. "I'm gonna spread the word of your presentation for family night."

"You don't have to really do that Alfred." Sophia said looking up at him.

"Oh but I have to Sophie. Promotion is the most important thing in presentations. You talk it up, and spread the word, more people will come and be interested. I'm going to go get started on the flyers." He said and stood from the table to go back inside.

* * *

Feliks pushed the door open and pulled his beauty trunk in with him. Long day, but it wasn't 12 bridesmaids before close long. Also, a pretty good day for tips, so he definitely couldn't complain. He'd pull his trunk up later, but for now, he had to relax. He had been greeted with the smell of food after a long day and soft chatter in the dining room. Times like this make him glad he had a place to call home.

He walked toward the dining room, stopping when he noticed a paper taped onto the wall. He pulled it off and read it.

_Alfred F. Jones Presents:_

_A Special Debut_

_During Family Time_

_Presentation by Lili, Sophia & Emil_

Feliks took the paper and in the dining room where he was greeted warmly by those that dwelled in the house.

"Well if it isn't the working woman," Gilbert spoke with a grin.

"Yes, our breadwinner for the day." Sophia said next.

Feliks smiled wryly. "Hey kids." He said slumping in a seat between Alfred and Kiku. "Was I the only one that worked today?"

"Basically. Everyone spent the day lounging, and you spent the day doing hair." Natalya said in mock disappointment.

Feliks shrugged. "That's fine. A day of work means for another day of tips. So in other words, I'm rich bitches."

"Like wiping your ass with 50s rich?" Gilbert asked.

"No, more like blowing my nose with 20s though." He said but waved his hand. "But don't worry it's coming, wait until next week." He said with a wink. "But in other news, what is this?" Feliks asked, holding up the flyer.

"Oh we're doing a presentation after dinner for family time," Alfred explained.

"Oh no. _We're_ doing a presentation after dinner, _you_ made flyers." Emil corrected.

"Well after doing these flyers, I decided to take it upon myself to be the manager of your group. Thus, my name goes on the event, as well as diligent promotion that you can pay me back later for when the event is a success from the turnout."

"Does the event cost?" Feliks asked.

"No, but money was definitely spent in the making of promotion. The ink cartridge in the printer isn't going to replace itself."

.

.

.

"Well if no one else is going to say it, I'm excited for tonight's presentation from our 3rd-floor tenants," Elizabeta said walking into the parlor with the other tenants.

Natalya looked at her. "Do you know who we live with? I'd be surprised if this was _actually_ a presentation."

"It's going to be great, I'm the manager so I would know." Alfred chimed in.

"Either if it's a bust or not, I'm just glad someone's doing something in place of what we were actually going to do tonight," Feliciano said next.

"What was the original family night activity?" Matthew asked curiously.

"The Guessing Game."

Instantly, sounds of relief came from everyone.

Kiku looked up from his Nintendo DS. "I actually like The Guessing Game"

"Well I would too if I won it every time, Kiku." Feliks said, rolling his eyes.

Kiku shrugged. "Not hard guessing how many jellybeans are in a jar." He muttered, looking back down at his game.

Emil poked his head into the parlor. "Okay everyone, please take your seats, we are about to start."

With that, people started to take their seats around the room.

Lili came in, and placed the hoop on the floor, as well as two incline boxes and placed them back to back. Once they were in their place, Lili looked up and smiled at everyone. "Good evening everyone. Um, welcome to our family night presentation. Tonight, we will be debuting a possible new family member to the house, but it will be up to you all to vote and decide on the new house guest. Currently, Emil is passing around a sheet of paper to all of you, and later during the intermission, or after the presentation, you will go to the voting booth, which is that tissue box with the marker over there, write your vote down, and put it in the box. At the end of intermission, we will then tally up the scores to see the final verdict of our new probable house guest."

"Now, I know what you all are thinking, 'who is this house guest they're referring to?'" Emil said next. "This house guest, ladies and gentlemen, is the one and final guest that's been missing from this house. The guest that makes you feel complete with a house as big as this one. A house guest that everyone enjoys, and you all will be the people our new house guest enjoys the most."

"So without further adieu, we would like to present to you our potential new house guest," Lili spoke next, and they stepped aside, allowing Sophia to walk in with Clemson, holding him above her head for everyone to see.

"This is Clemson. We found him tangled up in the bushes in the backyard and took it upon ourselves to take care of him. He's very smart for his kitten age and extremely friendly." Lili explained.

"We also bought all of his starter things, such as food, treats, food bowls, and the…"

"Cat litter." Lili and Sophia answered together.

"Right, that too."

"He's also potty trained and knows simple commands such as sit and stay. And if we haven't convinced you enough already, we will now take this time to go into our second part of our presentation to further convince you of his future residence." Emil and Lili stepped to the side and Sophia came forward with Clemson still above her head, only putting him in her arms when she began to speak.

"Good evening everyone, I certainly hope you're enjoying our presentation so far. All-day we've worked to train Clemson to make it more realistic of seeing him here. We also decided to teach him some nice party tricks because who can really say no to a nice little party trick?" She placed Clemson on the ground in front of the incline boxes. Sophia pulled a treat out of her pocket and held it out to Clemson. "Okay, come on Clemmy." She said dangling the treat in front of him. Clemson climbed up the incline, stopping at the top of it. Sophia held the treat above him, and he jumped in the air, catching it in his mouth and landing back down on the top of the incline.

"Good job Clemson." She said petting under his chin. "Now come on down." She said getting another treat out of her pocket and offering it to him. Clemson trotted his way down the narrow incline and Sophia kneeled in front of him. "You're doing so good. Can I get a shake?" She asked, holding her hand out to him.

Clemson looked at her hand and put his paw into it.

Sophia shook his paw and gave him his treat. "Superb Clemson." She said and stood up grabbing the hoop. "Alright, you've got it, Clemson. Through the hoop, you go." She said and offered him a treat on the other side of the hoop. The hoop was off the ground, high enough that Clemson had to jump pretty high to do it. Clemson gracefully leaped through the hoop, landing on his feet.

Sophia squealed with delight. "That was so good, you're such a good kitty." She said giving him the treat and petting the top of his head. "This will conclude our presentation, the floor is open for questioning."

The presentation received a few claps from people in the room.

"Does anyone have any questions?" Lili asked.

Natalya raised her hand.

"Yes Nat?"

"I can't believe you all just made us sit through that God awful presentation when there are better things to do in this house."

"Okay not a question, moving on to the next person," Emil said and pointed to Gilbert who had his hand up.

"Okay, what I think Natalya is trying to say is, what did having a cat in the house have to do with us?"

"Well, we wanted everyone's opinion on the cat before just having him here. We all live here together, so having a pet in the house is something we felt like was a group decision." Lili explained.

"Kids as much as I loved the presentation, and love cats myself, there's no telling when we'll have a tenant moving in that's allergic to cats, and it's not right to turn someone away all because of a pet allergy," Feliciano said.

"True, but if the information of a pet being in the house is disclosed in contracts, we can't do anything if _they're_ the ones no longer interested in living here." Sophia said.

Kiku raised his hand next.

"Yes Kiku?"

"May I pet him now?"

"As long as there aren't more questions, we will be passing him around for petting during voting and intermission," Emil said and took Clemson to hand him to Kiku.

"Alright, that's it. Please enjoy petting him, and please make your vote. We will be in intermission for about 10 minutes. This will give everyone time to vote and pet Clemson." Emil spoke.

After that, everyone mulled around the room, voting, talking, and petting Clemson.

"Alright that was a really good presentation, team," Alfred said walking up to Sophia and Emil.

"Yeah, I liked your part the most Alfred, where you _didn't do anything_ ," Emil stressed.

"Because the manager _doesn't_ do anything, Emil. Don't you know what a manager is?"

"You are not our manager, Alfred. You will never be our manager, we don't even _need_ a manager." Sophia spoke next.

"Well if I'm not your manager, then why do I already have your next presentation booked?"

Before they could say anything else, Lili brought the ballot box over. "Voting is over." She spoke with a small smile.

"Ah, thank you Lili." Alfred said taking the box before Emil or Sophia could. "As your manager, I will count the votes." He said grinning and went off to count the votes.

Rolling his eyes, Emil turned back to Lili. "So, how did intermission go?"

"I think it went pretty well. I mean, I'm no peeker, but if I were to guess what everyone voted, I'm sure it would be a unanimous 'yes.'"

"Well let's hope so for Clemson's sake," Sophia said looking around the room, finding Clemson in Kiku's lap.

Alfred came back a few minutes later, with the ballots in his hands. "Hello everyone, I am Alfred F. Jones, and I am the manager of this lovely trio here, and I have the final tally of the vote. Due to the popular vote, it is decided that Clemson...will be our new member of the house."

The three hall mates cheered excitedly for their new tenant, while few gave cheers of delight. Kiku had been bouncing Clemson happily in his lap.

"Not going to lie, I did think this was a waste of a Wednesday," Emil spoke to the two girls, "but at the same time, seemed to be worth it."

Lili grinned. "Definitely worth it."

"He's not a puppy, but I'll take him." Sophia said next glancing over at Clemson.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door, which made everyone look in the direction.

"I'll get it." Emil spoke leaving out the parlor and to the foyer to answer the door. He pulled it open, and was greeted with a man with long blond hair, and a little girl with brown skin and brown hair in pigtails with red ribbons.

" _Bon soir_. Sorry to disturb you sir." The little girl said.

"I'm Francis, this is my daughter Michelle. We live about a block over, but we've had a bit of an incident with our cat."

"A cat?"

" _Oui, mon Bisoux."_ Michelle gave Emil a picture of her with an orange tabby cat that was strikingly similar to Clemson.

"He escaped the garden earlier today. I found his collar hanging on a branch next to the hole in the fence that I will definitely have to patch up." He spoke with a small laugh.

"Will you call if you've seen _mon Bisoux_? He knows English and French. And he's really _obéissant."_

Emil paused for a moment and beckoned them inside. "I think I found your Bisoux."

" _Vraiment_?" Michelle asked excitedly as she pulled her father in the house.

Emil led them back to the parlor, and Michelle gasped when she saw Clemson. " _Bisoux! Venez ici!_ "

Instantly the cat hopped out of Kiku's lap and into Michelle's arms, purring softly.

Everyone looked on in confusion, and Feliciano stood to greet the other guests. "Good evening to you all, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Turns out Clemson is actually Bisoux. Got out of their garden this morning, and went on a trip around the neighborhood."

Michelle put Bisoux on the floor and pulled out his dark green collar with his gold plated _Bisoux_ pet tag. "Would you like the collar you gave him back?" She asked Emil.

He shook his head. "No, we won't be needing it. We got him a couple of things too if you'd like them. I'm sure they're things he already has, but if you'd like to keep them for future travel, feel free to take them."

"We wouldn't mind taking them off your hands. Seems he's found his way to a big family." Francis spoke.

"May we have one last goodbye with our new friend?" Lili asked.

" _Un ami de Bisoux est un de mes amis."_

" _Pas de Français._ " Francis reminded his daughter.

Michelle smiled bashfully, stepping away for the tenants to say their goodbyes. "Ah, sorry. A friend of Bisoux is my friend too! Thank you for taking care of him today, you can visit whenever you want." She spoke sweetly.

" _Au revoir_ , Bisoux. Sorry for renaming you Clemson." Sophia said, stroking his fur.

"Thank you for coming over Bisoux." Lili spoke next to the cat.

Kiku came over and scratched under Bisoux's chin. "We will meet again kitty." He spoke quietly before going back to his seat.

Emil gathered the things they bought for the feline and gave them to Francis. "This is all we've got. I'm sure you'll have better use for them."

Francis took the items, and Michelle picked up Bisoux. "Thank you all for everything, have a good night."

" _Merci beaucoup!"_ Michelle said waving at everyone before heading out with her father.

Felicano walked them out the parlor and to the door.

Lili sighed. "Well that was fun while it lasted. To think we were so close to having a pet in this house."

"I hope this means we'll have more leeway for a puppy." Sophia followed up.

Emil shook his head. "Waste of a goddamn Wednesday."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I'll be back soon for more. Please continue to comment and kudos, I always appreciate them!!! Until next chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fic isn't dead I'm just back in school. Did a gap year in college so I'm trying to finish up my last year-ish. Happy Labor Day and happy reading!

_Dear Mr. Steilsson,_

_We hope you find this email in good health. Thank you for your submission last month in the_ _Canadian Wildlife_ _. Your submissions were used in this month's issue, circulating 500 copies in total. As a thank you, we have decided to give you .25 cent in proceeds for each copy. Please follow the link below to automatically add your payment to your account. Thank you again for your submissions, we hope to work with you again in the future!_

— _Canadian Wildlife_

"Talk about timing," Emil spoke as he finished reading the email. It wasn't much though, not even enough for rent somewhere else. Definitely enough for a dingy motel though.

After following the provided link, Emil found $125 added to his account. Not bad at all. It was enough for him for now until something else came up, that is if something else ever _would_ come up.

But this was emergency money of course, only used for something he really needed. Like toiletries, or snacks. Absolutely no lollygagging with this blessed money that landed in his account. "Emergencies only." He thought aloud before he heard a knock at his door.

Emil closed his laptop and stood, going over to the door to open it. There he was greeted by his two hall mates.

"Good afternoon Emil," Lili said warmly.

"What are you doing cooped up in your room? It's Friday, don't you want to do something?" Sophia asked leaning against the doorframe.

"Well the last time we did something together we ended up training a cat that didn't need training and already had an owner, so I think I'm good."

"Oh, Emil don't be like that. Do you know how many stray cats are in this neighborhood? More will come around, trust me." Lili spoke.

"Besides, we had plans tonight. We're blowing this popsicle stand."

"To do what?"

"Bar hopping!" The two exclaimed together.

Emil looked at them strangely. "You two? Bar hopping? I would never expect it. Especially you Lili."

Lili blushed some. "I'm not as new as I used to be. Sophia taught me how to do it right so I end up with free drinks wherever we go."

Sophia nodded with a grin."That's right! We leave broke, come back drunk, and with fast food."

"One time someone ended up giving me money. Very unexpected."

"Well, the female privilege sounds fun going out. I have to pay to get into whatever club I go to, I'm the one buying drinks for cute girls, and guess who buys the fast food at the end of the night?" Emil asked before pointing to himself. "Me."

"Well stick with us and we'll get you where you need to be. Maybe someone will buy you a drink." Sophia said, nudging him.

"I don't know, I really shouldn't be going out with the money I just got. It's for emergencies."

"Emergencies?!" The two girls exclaimed together.

"Emil, you're too young to have emergencies," Lili spoke first.

"Yeah save that for the adults on the second floor," Sophia spoke next with a wave of her hand.

"We're all living in a community boarding house and you're saying _I'm_ too young to have emergency money?" Emil spoke with a quirk of an eyebrow.

"What we're saying is you need to take a break. You've been nonstop looking for jobs and openings for your photography. A night won't kill you."

"Exactly. Maybe going out around people your age and having fun will give you some inspiration. Give you a different outlook for your photos."

Emil scoffed. "I don't even photograph people, being around them will not give me a different outlook."

"Oh please Emil? We just want to show you a good time." Lili said looking at him with a small smile and pleading eyes.

How could he say no to those eyes? He couldn't say no to her at all. "What's one night of bar hopping?" He asked with a small shrug.

The two girls exclaimed excitedly. "Just call us The Three Musketeers!" Sophia said smiling.

"Or, The Three Blind Mice." Lili offered, then the two of them looked at Emil.

Emil looked at the two. "Or The...Three Stooges?"

Sophia and Lili looked at each other before shrugging. "Needs work, but we'll go with it for now."

* * *

"So, does anyone have any plans this evening?" Feliciano asked over dinner.

"Talking to girls. You know a lot of them thought I was hot with my white hair. Thought I looked like some fantasy thing like a wolf or vampire." Alfred started first.

"Well I'm done with this week's homework, so I'll be enjoying my Friday reading books _not_ pertaining to education," Matthew said, picking up his drink.

"Would you like to watch my stream tonight Matthew? It is a new game, and I believe two players as well...if you'd like to play." Kiku asked looking up at him.

Matthew smiled some. It would be a better idea; considering he's read half of the parlor books already and was just going to read a repeat he hadn't read in a while. "Sure Kiku, I'd love to."

"And I'm sure you've done all your homework for the week as well Alfred?" Feliciano asked.

"Nah I'll just pay Mattie to do it."

"Alfred I want you to know that I know my self-worth, meaning every time you ask me I _will_ go up in price. So prepare to pay my way through college."

"And _I'll_ be going on another date with Toris, my treat of course because this bitch, is rich," Feliks said, snapping his fingers.

"Oh good, so does this mean you'll be paying your rent early this month?" Feliciano asked, smiling warmly at the Polish man.

Feliks laughed nervously. "N-No, it just means I'll be taking _you_ on a date afterward because I like, always appreciate my loving landlord."

"Ah, I can't wait to see how you will try to weasel your way into paying late again this time."

Feliks scoffed. "Me? Convince you of paying my rent late? Never! But I will say this, free wash and blowout on me this month."

Feliciano shook his head. "I won't tolerate another month of late rent...but I have been in need of a haircut. I do have a date tomorrow after all."

"That's right, Ludwig is coming this weekend." Roderich chimed in.

"Yes he is, and we'll be spending quality sibling time together. So going to the park and getting ice cream cones. That kind of deal." Gilbert said.

"You know Ludwig is too old for that, right?" Natalya asked, glancing over at him.

Elizabeta looked down the table. "And Lili, Sophie, do you lovely ladies have anything planned this evening?"

"Bar hopping." The two answered together.

Feliks pouted. "Without me? I can't believe you didn't invite me."

"You have a date Feliks. Besides, we've been out with you plenty of times, we invited Emil out with us tonight." Lili said looking over at Emil.

"Well you should be so lucky Emil. Take care of my girls tonight, they can get into some trouble if you don't watch them close enough."

"I could imagine. But it is I being led by the two troublemakers tonight, so trouble here we come." Emil said with a shrug.

* * *

"Emil you can shower first, we still have to pick out what we're wearing." Sophia said going back up the stairs with her two hallmates.

Emil looked at his clock. "It's 7:30 now. You all aren't going to take all night are you? I'd like to at least like to go to one bar where I don't have to pay to get in."

"Don't worry Emil, we'll try not to take that long." Lili said politely.

"I only...half believe that."

.

.

.

Emil looked at his watch again. 9:30. He had been ready for an hour sitting in the parlor. Though he had decided to put some effort in tonight's bar hopping outfit. Black floral shirt with pink hibiscus flowers. That would surely get Lili's attention. He wasn't even wearing his usual ripped jeans. He was wearing his khaki pants and padmora shoes.

He looked at himself in the hanging mirror and rushed his hands through his silver hair. Maybe he should have ran his comb through his hair? As soon as the thought came, he heard steps approaching him. No time for that.

Lili poked her head into the parlor room. "Oh he's in here Sophie." She said turning away for a moment.

"Coming!"

Lili walked in, dressed in a mini dress with embroidered flowers on the deep V-neckline. Her hair was pulled back to see her beautifully made face, and she stood taller in her wedge heels. "I see you got the memo. I like your shirt. You look nice in flowers."

Emil gave a slow smile. That was all he wanted to hear. "Thank you, you look beautiful in your dress."

"Thank you, it comes with pockets." She said slipping her hands in them with a smile.

"Hey sorry, borrowing a pair of shoes from Feliks." Sophia said walking in. She also had her hair pinned up, and a made-up face. She wore a short, ruffled, floral romper with her borrowed wedges. "Wow Emil, you got the memo and we didn't even tell you."

"I just thought flowers would be a little different to wear. Apparently not."

"Lili and I dress alike all the time when we go out. It's in case we get separated." Sophia said, grabbing her lip gloss from her purse. "Ready to go?"

Lili pulled her keys out of her pockets. "Ready to go."

.

.

.

Lili drove them out to the city and to the strip of bars and nightclubs she and Sophia usually went to. She parked on the street and turned off the car. "It's almost 10, we can find a place free before 10 if we're quick." She said grabbing her purse from the back.

"Alright so here's the deal Emil, we go anywhere where shots are free for ladies, they'll be on us. If we go somewhere where mixed drinks are cheap, we'll rotate on who buys the next round. If we go somewhere with expensive cocktails, then you just buy those on your own. Keep the creeps away from us. If they get creepy, we _will_ tell them you're our boyfriend. Usually, they'll back off."

"And if they don't?"

"Well, that's a bridge we'll cross when we get there."

"But the number one rule to our outings is to have fun and be yourself. We're all single ready to mingle." Lili spoke with a grin as she hopped out the car.

Sophia and Emil hopped out behind her. "So where are we starting tonight?"

"Umm, The Sailors Den is free before 10, so is The Station, and Vortex."

"The Sailors Den always has shit people in it but the drinks are always great. But Vortex first definitely. They have cheap mixed drinks and free shots until 11." Sophia said pointing at the building with red and blue swirling lights.

The three of them headed over to the building and stood in the short line. They made it in with a few minutes to spare. Emil looked around in the slightly crowded bar with people talking with drinks in their hands and dancing with friends and partners on the designated dance floor.

"Are we dancing, or drinking?" Emil asked.

"I gotta drink to dance. To the bar!" Sophia said pointing towards it. She led the two to the bar and managed to get them to the front to order.

"Who's buying the first round?"

"NOT IT!" Lili screamed first.

"NOT IT!" Sophia screamed right after.

Emil shook his head. "I'll just assume it's for my initiation for hanging out with the two of you."

"I'll get the first round of shots too." Sophia said and ordered the three shots before Emil ordered them drinks.

A few minutes later, they were handed a tray of three shot glasses of white liquid and 3 cups of green liquid.

Lili picked up her shot glass. "We should make a toast, for our first night out."

"Great idea. May we have a great night full of fun, laughter, and memories." Sophia said, holding up her glass. "Cheers lads."

"Prost."

"Skál."

With that, they clinked their shot glasses together and downed the shots.

Sophia shivered after swallowing the alcohol. "Did you say 'skál?' What language is that?"

"It's Icelandic."

"You're Icelandic Emil? I didn't know." Lili said, taking her drink off the platter.

Sophia took her drink off the platter as well. "There's a lot we don't know about Emil. We're gonna learn all we can tonight."

Emil gave the platter back to the bartender when he grabbed his drink as well. "There's not much to know about me. You won't be intrigued in the least bit."

"What's after Vortex?" Lili asked, drinking her drink.

"Whatever's free before 11." Sophia said, pulling out her phone. She went to the camera and turned the front camera on the three of them. "Smile."

Lili went in next to her friend and smiled. "Emil? Come get in the photo." She said looking at him.

"Ahh, why don't I just take a picture of you two?" He said and went to stand in front of them.

The two looked at each other before Sophia gave Emil her phone. He turned the phone horizontally and took a photo of the gorgeous, smiling friends.

"Thanks Emil." Sophia said, taking her phone and looking at the photo. Definitely a keeper. "Shall we dance?"

.

.

.

After nearly an hour of dancing and one more round of shots on Lili, they stumbled out of the hot building.

"Jesus all black was a terrible idea," Sophia said wiping the little hairs from her forehead.

Lili fanned herself, walking around some to catch a breeze. "Yeah, I could have gone with a lighter color."

Emil watched as the girls cooled themselves off, patting away sweat on his face himself. "So what's next? Another bar?"

"Yeah, we'll go somewhere further down to cool off," Sophia said looking up the street. She beckoned her friends to follow her. "Having fun yet Emil?"

He shrugged as he walked. "I'm okay. Vortex was pretty cool, I'd go again."

Lili walked in between the two. "Well, what kind of bar settings are you more into? Are you into rooftop bars, or something more diverse, or patio settings, night club settings?"

"Karaoke?" Sophia suggested.

Lili gasped. "We're definitely doing karaoke before the night ends." She spoke with a nod.

"Emil, who do you think loves karaoke the most at the house?"

"The most? Probably Feliks? He seems multi-talented enough to probably sing as well."

"You're very close, but it's actually...Kiku." Lili said looking at him for his reaction.

Emil blinked. "Kiku? But he barely says anything?" He questioned.

"While that's true, he definitely shows his emotion in karaoke."

"Do you ever see that waitress that always watches him when he sings?" Lili asked.

"Of course I have. We have to get him out more. I bet that's the love of his life. Or maybe his girlfriend for now? I don't know how their love life would go but I hope it would be good." Sophia said with a nod.

"Well karaoke isn't my thing. Performing in front of crowds of people wouldn't be something I'd seek."

"Oh right, so what would be your ideal bar or nightclub?" Lili asked again.

"Um, something a little less crowded? Room to move and decent music."

"Oh I know the perfect place. It's a couple of bucks to get in, and the drinks are a little expensive, but they have cheap options. We can go there if you want." Sophia offered.

"Are you talking about The Veil?"

Sophia nodded.

"Ohh yeah, you would love that Emil. Perfect place for you." Lili said with a nod.

"Well let's head there."

The three adults headed down the street and turned into an alley that had a small line outside the door. Above the door was a neon sign that read _The Veil_ in white script writing. The line was quick, and the cover wasn't bad. 10 dollars to enter, and they were greeted by a flight of stairs. They climbed up the stairs, and pushed aside the white veils that covered the doorway. Inside was quiet music being played as people were chatting quietly at tables and mingling to themselves. The lighting was dim, and the crowd was thinner than Vortex.

This is what Emil could get into. "This is really nice." He said looking around.

"We thought you'd like it. We usually don't buy drinks here since they're a little expensive, but some guys are kind of nice and want to buy us drinks, so." Lili trailed off with a shrug.

"And speaking of which, I see a willing contender," Sophia said looking at someone eyeing her up at the bar. He gave her a small wink and a smirk. "I'll be back." She said and walked over to the bar.

Then there was just Lili and Emil.

Lili looked around, she wasn't going to buy a drink unless someone bought her a drink. There were some cute guys here tonight, some definitely would buy her a drink in exchange for a little conversation.

"Mind if I steal you away gorgeous?" Someone asked, touching her elbow gently. Lili turned around, greeted by a tanned man with high end brand clothes on and a gold chain around his neck. His cologne even smelled expensive. He was handsome though, head full of brown hair and hazel colored eyes, and a little stubble on his chin.

Her breath hitched a little, and she felt her face heating up. "I-I wouldn't mind that." She spoke shyly.

Emil looked at the two. This dude screamed 'creep' to him, but apparently not to Lili. He was probably just some rich guy that worked in the city that liked to hit on pretty girls that came here. But there was something just...off about him.

"She isn't with you, is she?"

Emil snapped out of his thoughts and gave a half-wave. "Just take good care of her." He had his approval...for now.

With a nod, the man whisked her away to another side of the bar.

Then it was just Emil.

Emil went to go sit at the bar, glancing at the expensive drink menu. 15 dollars for a margarita? "It better come with a private dance, or a sparkler."

"You're talking about the drinks, aren't you?"

Emil looked over to find a young Asian woman looking at him. Her long dark ponytail was flipped in front of her long-sleeve green bodycon dress. "They are expensive here. That's why I come already drunk."

"You don't want to go somewhere else?"

"Why would I? Too many people anywhere else. Plus the music isn't bad either."

"Oh. Well, I'm Emil." He spoke, trying to engage in more conversation with the woman.

"I didn't ask for your name." She spoke with a shake of her head and looked up at him. "I'm Lien." She looked him up and down. "What brings you here tonight, Emil?"

"I'm bar hopping with a couple of roommates." He said and looked around to find them. Sophia was having drinks with her acquaintance and Lili was still sitting at a table talking to hers.

"Sounds fun."

"Bar hopping is okay."

"No, I meant having roommates. Friends in general. I don't have many of those." Lien said, putting a hand under her chin.

Emil blinked. She was more relatable than he thought. "I understand what you mean. I'd rather be in my own company than anyone else's." He said leaning on the bar to get more comfortable in his seat.

"What do you do for a living Emil?"

"I'm a photographer."

"Ah, friendship in photos."

"I guess you could say that. I only do landscape, wildlife, and architecture."

"A photographer that doesn't photograph people. Even more interesting." She looked over at the bartender, beckoning him over. "Would you like a drink Emil?"

"You're buying me a drink?" Emil asked.

"Are you surprised?"

"Moreso flattered."

Lien gave a half-smile and ordered him a cocktail. "So, no people in your photos. Why is that?"

Emil shrugged. "Just a preference. What about you? What do you do?"

"I'm a writer."

"A writer? Do you have anything published?"

"Why is that always the first question someone asks? It's never 'how long you've been writing,' or 'what do you write about?' It's like telling an artist to draw something when they tell you they're an artist. It's sickening." She spoke with a shake of her head.

"Sorry to hear about your angst," Emil spoke, taking the drink from the bartender. "One of my roommates is a commission artist so I'm sure that's a frequent question she gets." He said looking around for his girls again.

"Didn't mean to vent to you so suddenly. Figured you'd be the type to listen though. I've only published 2 books. They're mysteries; not related to one another."

Emil took a sip of his drink. "How long have you been writing?"

"Over 10 years. Used to write as an outlet, now it helps me make money, I guess. How long have you been taking photos?"

"6 years. Started in my teens as an outlet too."

"Do you have anything published?"

"Small stuff. Nature catalogs, and blogs that want to hire me for their photos." Emil said, still sipping.

"But surely photographing _people_ would be a more lucrative career, wouldn't it?"

Emil looked away for a moment. "I'd rather be on my own. I can't be on my own taking pictures of people. Crowding up my workspace, their opinions on the edits and poses. I receive no judgment from landscapes."

Lien placed her hand on top of Emil's. Her fingers danced on top of his hand before her index finger slowly circled around the knuckle of his middle finger. "You're not afraid of judgment, Emil I can tell you that."

"Oh really? And what do you think I'm afraid of?" Emil spoke sarcastically as he picked up his drink, sipping it quickly.

Lien pulled her hand away. "You're afraid of your own feelings."

Emil sputtered out some of his drink, covering his cough with his arm and turning away.

Lien giggled mischievously. "Aw, Mr. Tin Man needs a heart, doesn't he?" She asked with a smirk.

"You don't know anything about me." He said in a raspy voice. "I'm perfectly fine at processing my own feelings."

"So it's the processing that's hanging you up?"

"No it's—"

"The fact that you don't take pictures of people?"

"What is so bad about me not taking pictures of people? I don't like it. I hate it. Why would I take pictures of people when I can't even take pictures of mys-self." He spoke, trying to stop himself at the end, but couldn't. The words just came out like word vomit.

Speaking that truth had made him feel weird. Upset, and angry, but angry at himself? It made him feel empty, lonely, and isolated. This is why he kept these things to himself, but Lien just got it out of him like it was nothing. Like she knew him. It was comforting, so comforting in a way that it almost made him want to cry for some reason. And he never cried, never liked to show emotion in that way, but crying seemed like a good idea to get out this dissatisfying, hurtful feeling.

"You know it's okay to let others in to learn about yourself, Emil."

The voice pulled him away from his silence. "Why are you so good at this?"

Lien shrugged. "I write books for a living, it's easy for me to read the stories of others." She leaned close to him. "Let your roommates guide you into letting people in. They're doing the right thing."

The mention of the girls made him look for them again. No change with Sophia, but Lili's acquaintance had left her to go to the bar.

Lien watched him as he looked past her. "Looking for your roommates? You must have a crush on one of them."

"Yeah, what about it?" He said as he watched the man wait for drinks.

"Are you going to tell them?"

Emil watched as the man pulled out his phone while still waiting. "Probably not. And before you ask why, I just think it's for the best." He focused intently on the man's mouth, trying to make out what he was saying. His fuzzy vision from alcohol wasn't bettering the chance either.

"Emil we just talked about this. Let others in to learn about yourself. They may have something to teach you. Learn it before it's too late."

' _She is pretty.'_

' _Blonde.'_

' _...Money.'_

"Lien, I'm not telling Lili how I feel. I'm not even going to be around her long enough for further feelings to develop." Emil spoke, not taking his eyes off the man.

' _...downstairs now.'_

"Oh Lili is a pretty name, and it's going to be a name you'll never forget if you don't tell her how you feel."

The man got the drinks and put his phone away the same time he pulled a small vile out his pocket. He twisted the cap off and poured the liquid into one of the drinks.

"Oh no."

"What?"

Emil stood from his seat. "I have to go, it was nice talking to you Lien." He said and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before going down to the other end of the bar and grabbing Sophia by the arm. "We've got to go. Now." He spoke pulling her out the seat.

Dazed and confused Sophia frowned and waved quickly at her acquaintance. "Call me Sebastian!" She called as she was dragged away from them.

Before the man could get back to Lili, Emil forced his way between the two.

Lili looked at her roommates, then back at her new friend Sadiq bringing drinks back for the both of them. "Something wrong?" She asked, looking at her friends first.

"They probably just came to check on you, see that you're doing fine." Sadiq interfered as he handed her the tampered drink.

Lili smiled as she took the drink, but before she could bring it to her lips, Emil snatched the glass out of her hand and poured it out on the floor.

Lili looked confusedly at her friend. "Emil?"

"Hey what's your problem man? You told me to take good care of her, right?" Sadiq asked, stepping to Emil.

"Yeah, but I should have found someone better for the job. Come on Lili we're leaving,"

"O-Okay." She spoke, grabbing her phone and slipping her purse back on around her.

Frowning, Sadiq shoved Emil. "Listen here you little shit. I don't know what you think you know, but you're done pissing me off tonight." He spoke through gritted teeth and his fist balled.

"Hey, dickhead!"

Sadiq felt a hand tug at his shoulder, trying to force him around. He looked back, and a cup full of alcohol was splashed into his eyes and face. He screamed at the burning sensation in his eyes.

Lien dropped the now empty glass and looked at her friend. "Get your girls out of here Emil!"

With that being said, Emil grabbed Lili's hand, and re-looped his arm around Sophia's and dragged them out of the bar and down the stairs.

Once they were out of the building, Emil looked around quickly.

"Emil, what the hell is going on? Who was that guy?"

"Did Sadiq do something wrong? He seemed really nice."

Ignoring their questions, Emil continued to look around the alleyway.

"Emil what are you looking for?"

He turned around completely and found a white, unmarked van at the other end of the alleyway. His blood ran cold as he stared blankly at the van.

"Emil, you're freaking me out, what is going on?"

"Sadiq was planning to take you, Lili." He finally said.

"What?"

"He was ordering drinks while on the phone. He was talking with someone 'downstairs now.' He said that 'you were pretty,' and that you were 'blonde' And he mentioned 'money.' I don't know in what context but it couldn't have been good if he was slipping something in your drink."

Lili's eyes widened. "I-I don't understand. He seemed so nice. He was telling me about his summer homes in Europe, and that he was a talent agent. He thought I'd make a great model." She said before pausing. "Oh my God, it sounds so much worse downstairs than up there." She said putting her hands on her face.

Emil went over to the bouncer and gave him the tip-off of the van parked at the other end of the alleyway and gave a description for Sadiq. Then he beckoned the girls to follow him out.

"Are you okay Lili? We can go home if you're feeling weird about it." Sophia asked.

Lili shook her head. "I was having a really fun time, I don't want that guy or anything like that to ruin our first night out together. The night continues." She said with a nod. "But thank you Emil for keeping an eye out. I would hate to know what would have happened had I drank what he was trying to give me."

"Yeah, and your friend was really nice too for throwing her drink in that asshole's face so we could leave." Sophia said afterward.

"Yeah, Lien, she was nice." Emil said thinking back on the conversation they had. "She bought me a drink."

That made the girls squeal with excitement. "She bought you a drink?" They asked together.

Emil chuckled some. "I've got game. I know how to flirt to get what I want sometimes too."

"Oh, ho, ho, but did you get a number?" Sophia asked as she pulled out a napkin.

Lili shook her head. "You're too good Sophia."

"Yeah I would have gone for another guy's number but his conversation was pretty good. He's a photographer like you, Emil. He has a studio somewhere around here."

"Oh I hope his business is going well."

"He's looking for more photographers to hire. I know you don't like taking pictures of people, but maybe it's a good start."

"Hmm, maybe." Emil spoke, trying to end the conversation there. He hadn't wanted to get back into the 'why' of his photography, still swallowing those feelings.

.

.

.

The rest of the night had been more of the club scenes, making it easier to stay together. They got back into their mixed drink rotation, danced with each other, and the people around them, enjoying the rest of the night. The weird feeling at The Veil was leaving them, and Club Sapphire was giving them just what they needed to wash the feeling away.

The next club they went to was Skyline, a rooftop bar & grill. By the time they made it to the rooftop bar, they were well washed down with alcohol. The trio made their way to the bar, taking a seat. They had been too tired to stand around at this bar.

"I'm hungry," Sophia whined as she looked at the menu.

"Is it bad that I want three orders of poutine?" Lili asked as she looked at the menu as well. "I just...I just need them. Emil, have you ever wanted poutine so badly, you wanted to just cry?" Lili asked with a crack in her voice.

Sophia looked over at her frowning. "Lili, I swear to God you cry over poutine, we're going home."

Lili sniffled. "B-But you don't understand Sophie. I still have to order it, and wait for it, and I want it now." She said putting her head down on the counter.

"I know honey, I know. But crying is just going to make your makeup run." She said putting her hand on Lili's back to console her.

Emil watched the friends interact with each other. He could have guessed what kind of drunks they were. Lili was definitely an emotional drunk. Cries at everything, good or bad. And Sophia was the mom drunk. Comforting the friends when things got out of hand. Their friendship was to be admired.

Emil waved at one of the bartenders walking past them, and he stopped to take their orders.

Lili's head popped back up and she quickly grabbed her menu, naming off the three kinds of poutine platters she wanted. After she ordered, Sophia and Emil ordered after her.

"Are you sure you're going to eat three orders of poutine Lili? Seems like a lot."

"Don't worry Emil, when I'm drunk anything is possible," Lili spoke with a wave of her hand.

"It's always mind-boggling to watch. You wouldn't think such a tiny body could pack so much food away."

.

.

.

The moon was full and the breeze was gentle as they ate their club meal. Emil ordered lamb stuffed cabbages. And Sophia ordered a fish and chips combo. Lili hummed quietly as she munched away at her three different orders of poutine.

"You know, this is pretty fun." Sophia said, picking up some fries. "You're really fun to hang out with Emil. I hope we can do this again."

Emil nodded. "I'm having fun too. I didn't think my first night out with the two of you would be so...eventful? But, I haven't had this much fun in...I'm not sure when."

Lili looked over at Emil. She put her fork down and placed her hand on top of his. "Emil, I hope this doesn't sound strange, but, would you be our friend? Like after you move out at the end of the month would you call us and send us postcards? We'd surely miss your company."

There was that feeling again. That feeling he had with Lien when he was word vomiting. No one has ever asked to be his friend. He's never had friends to ask that.

Growing up an only child, and being sheltered by your brother for so many years that you just leave a note in your room and leave without a single goodbye...You wouldn't know what friends were.

"Emil?"

"I don't like taking pictures of people because I don't even like pictures of myself. I barely even _like_ myself." He shook his head. He felt pricks at his eyes. God what was happening to him?

Lili and Sophia glanced at each other. "Oh Emil," Lili started quietly.

Emil rubbed at his eyes. "I'm sorry that was stupid to say. I shouldn't have said that." He spoke as he attempted to stand up from the bar.

"Emil, wait!" Sophia said, grabbing his hand.

Lili grabbed his other hand. "It's okay. We want to help you, and be friends with you."

"Help me? What do I even need help with?

"Loving yourself, mate. The mirror's not as big and bad as you think."

Emil sighed, rubbing at his eyes more. "It's not a physical problem. I just..I'm not what I thought I'd be. I'm not what I want to be. I'm happy doing what I love, but there's always something missing. And it's the same reason why it's so hard to look at myself."

"Emil, you have to love yourself from the outside in. You can always change and unlearn the toxic things you don't like about yourself. Could be things others taught you, maybe they're things you've taught yourself."

"Lili's right. Besides, it's your own experiences and learnings that take you where you want to go. So that means experiencing the people around you, and learning from them."

This had been the second time Emil heard this tonight. Letting people in to understand himself. Maybe it was time. Time to give it a try. Time for a change.

"Sophia, maybe I will give your friend's studio a try. And Lili, I would love to be both you and Sophia's friend." Emil announced.

The two girls cheered excitedly for their new friend as they wrapped their arms around him. "We did it Lili, we found our 3rd person!"

"Yes, but keep that between us Sophia we can't have Feliks know."

Emil tensed at the physical contact but soon relaxed into the affectionate touch. "Yes yes, we're now the power of three, isn't it lovely?" He spoke in a half sarcastic matter.

Lili and Sophia gasped pulling away from the Icelandic man. "Power of Three?" They asked excitedly.

"I love it! It sounds whimsical and aesthetically pleasing." Lili spoke with a grin.

"And here I thought you only saw us as The Three Stooges, I didn't think you had it in you."

Emil shook his head. He was in for a ride with these two, and if he didn't know that then he definitely knew it now. "Participation is key in friendships. I read that on Google when I was like, 13." He spoke with a shrug as he went back to his cabbages.

.

.

.

"So Emil, upon having this emotional breakthrough, would you like to head back home? Or one more place?" Lili asked as they headed out of Skyline.

"Well after being so emotionally vulnerable the only way to block it out again is to drink it all away. One more bar." He spoke.

"That's the spirit Emil! To the Sailors Den we go!" Sophia spoke.

Lili frowned. "I don't know about The Sailors Den Sophie. Every time we leave there you always end up drunker than you should be."

Sophia rolled her eyes. "I appreciate your concern Mother Lili but I will be just fine. Emil's drinking with me, which means I'll only be half as drunk as I should be."

"It makes sense to me." Emil chimed in.

Lili sighed. "Fine. Sailors Den is the last place. Then we're going home." She spoke.

...

Upon paying the 5 dollar cover, the group walked in. The Sailors Den had a nautical look to it. Fish hanging from the ceiling, ships in bottles on shelves, fishing nets, and lifebuoys on the wall. Also, more people than Emil thought it would be.

The three of them sat at the bar, and Sophia got the bartender's attention. "Lili are you in on the pitcher?"

"Sophia, I have to get us home safely if that's okay with you." Lili spoke flatly.

Sophia simply waved her off and ordered one pitcher and one bottle of water. "So Emil, it's just you and me on the pitcher tonight."

" _One_ pitcher tonight Sophie."

Sophia glared at her best friend before looking back at Emil. "Have you ever shared a pitcher with someone?"

"Never had anyone to share them with."

"Well, you're in luck." She said before a pitcher of blue liquid sat down in front of them with four straws already inside. "We've got to drink this down in 10 seconds."

"Why?"

"Because if we don't that means we have to buy another...which are the typical rules if we were actually playing, but since we're only restricted to _one_ we won't get another."

Lili grabbed the bottle of water, opening it up to drink. "Don't freeze Emil." She advised her friend.

Sophia grabbed two of the straws in the pitcher. "Ready?"

Emil grabbed the other two.

Lili counted off. "3...2..1. Go!"

With that the two drank the alcoholic beverage down as quickly as possible while Lili counted backwards from 10. The lower she got in numbers, the faster they drank.

"4...3...2...1!"

Emil and Sophia stopped drinking and Lili looked at the now empty pitcher. "The pitchers down!" Lili announced excitedly.

Sophia spun around in her bar seat triumphantly as Emil massaged his temples. "I got a brain freeze." He spoke with his eyes shut tightly. He couldn't even think about the liquor rushing suddenly to his system.

Lili shook her head. "I told you not to freeze."

"Don't worry it always happens the first time Emil." Sophia spoke as she continued to spin in her seat.

"Sophie you should really stop–"

"Oh fuckin' hell now I've got to take a piss." Sophia said stopping her chair on the dime. "Lili, coming with?" She asked, sliding out of her chair. The movement out of the chair made Sophia stumble back some and into another person, spilling half of their drink on them.

Sophia turned around embarrassingly. "Sorry about that love."

The girl with the 'Birthday Girl' banner and tiara on looked at her now soaked red dress. She grimaced at Sophia. "You should be sorry, look what you've done to my dress!" She screamed at her.

Sophia put her hands up in defense. "Alright, chill out love it was an accident. I'm in a good mood, don't want to ruin your birthday further. How about another drink on me, eh?" She asked.

"Emil, I just got a bad feeling." Lili spoke next to her friend as she looked at Sophia and the Birthday Girl.

The Birthday Girl laughed. "Ruin? Too late for that, love. I don't need your piss poor apology drink. How about you just finish the rest of mine?" With that, she splashed the rest of the drink on Sophia's romper.

"Uh-Oh."

Sophia gasped at the cold drink on her body. Birthday girl certainly wanted her night ruined further, and Sophia was just the one to help with that. It wasn't even a second before her hand was in her hair and her fist connected with her face.

Stunned, the Birthday Girl reached for Sophia's hand, trying to pry it out her hair with one hand while the other hand was smacking and hitting Sophia in the face.

Emil's eyes widened at the sudden event that spiraled in front of him. What did he even miss?

Sophia pushed the Birthday Girl down on the ground, falling right on top of her. Her hands continued to slap and punch the girl repeatedly. The people in the bar around them moved away to avoid crossfire.

"Sophia, get off of her!" Lili said getting off her seat.

Emil climbed out of his bar seat and pulled Sophia off the girl.

Sophia laughed as Emil pulled her off of the Birthday Girl. "Some birthday gift that was! A well deserved ass beating by yours truly. Happy birthday, cunt."

Lili saw security shuffling over to them in the crowd. "We have to go. We have to go now." She said tapping Emil's arm.

Emil looked in the direction of security and turned on his heel with Sophia still in his arms to make their way out of the crowded bar.

The Birthday Girl was trying to scramble to her feet, blood dripping out of her nose. "You bitch! You'll pay for this!" She spoke looking around and pulling one of the security guards close. "Get them! It's those assholes in the flowers!"

Emil stumbled outside with Sophia, and Lili close behind.

Lili scrambled for her keys in her pocket and unlocked her car from across the street. "Get to the car now."

Sophia scrambled out of Emil's arms, falling on the street soon after. "Ow, ow, owww." She whined, grabbing her elbow.

Emil winced. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

Lili grabbed her hand, and forced Sophia off the ground. "She's fine. In the car." She spoke as she led Sophia to the car and opened the back seat for her. Emil helped Sophia in the car as Lili started up the car. He looked back, and saw the security guards coming out of the bar. "Shit, shit, shit." He said and climbed over Sophia in the seat.

"Lili, get us out of here." Sophia said closing the door.

"I'm trying." She said putting the car in reverse. Being blocked in a parallel parking space wasn't making this easier. She moved her gear shift from reverse to drive, watching as the security guards got closer to the car. Lili reversed again.

"Um, Lili? They're getting kind of close."

She put the car in drive, turning the wheel. "Almost…" She reversed, turning the wheel.

Sophia could see the two security men's faces visibly now in the car. "Lili!"

Lili forced the wheel to the opposite direction, put the car in drive, and sped off down the street.

* * *

Lili pulled up behind the house, parking in her usual spot before turning off the car. She sighed. "Home sweet home."

Emil and Sophia got out of the car and Lili got out behind them. They went to the patio door, and Emil slid the patio door open for them. "So, you think we're allowed back to the Sailors Den?" Emil asked the two.

"I hope not." Lili muttered.

"Well I would hope I'd be allowed back since I won the fight. The Sailor's Den shouldn't allow losers."

Emil started his way up the stairs first. "I didn't think you had that in you Sophia. It happened so quickly I didn't even know what happened." Definitely changed his perspective of their drunk selves. Lili was definitely more of the mother type, and Sophia is the one that fights when provoked.

"God blessed me with fists to fight, but cursed me with a temper to use it violently, I always say."

"Sophie we were working on your anger management, and tonight was a terrible setback."

Sophia sighed. "I know, I know. But Lili, she had it coming, and you _know_ she did."

"I know she did, but sometimes, violence isn't the answer."

"Try telling that to Malcom X." Sophia said, rolling her eyes.

Emil made it to their floor. "Either way, that birthday girl was being too bratty, and had no reason to throw the rest of her drink on you."

"Also I heard her call us the 'Assholes in Flowers.' It would be best if we never wear these clothes out together again."

"Lili's right. I've got to get out of this now. I'm all sticky. Need a shower."

Emil walked over to the bathroom, opening the door. "Well before you do that, I've got to _—_ " His sentence was cut off by a sharp scream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed the long chapter with an included cliffhanger at the end. I'll try to update sooner so it's not unbearable sitting on a cliff hanger but please send kudos and comments! I really appreciate it~ Until next chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> So this will be a short, sweet coming of age-ish kind of story. About a person that learns to open up to be himself kind of thing. I'm hoping to make this as relatable and kind of just feel good in general. I want the readers to want to live with these crazy set of people, ya feel me? Please stick around with me, half of it's already written, I'm just trying to get the traffic up on this story(Posted on FF.Net as well for your reading preference) Please leave comments and kudos please and thank you!!!


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